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By Steve Slater
LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo, the world'sbiggest bank by market value, this week opened an office inAberdeen to tap into oil industry business on Scotland's eastcoast as part of its UK expansion.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said the office has threepeople and is the latest step in a steady expansion in Europe,Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where it now has 930 people, upfrom about 600 at the start of 2012.
Most are in Britain, where it has 721 employees, and itsEMEA boss Jim Johnston said that will rise further.
"We've grown more than we expected in each of the last threeyears ... we'll continue to grow because the customer base inthe U.S. and here has increasing activity with each other, andwe're hoping to gain market share," Johnston told Reuters.
The Aberdeen opening also suggests concerns that businessmay be put off by uncertainty over Scotland's upcomng vote onindependence could be overdone. Wells Fargo declined to commenton how the September vote might affect its plans.
Aberdeen has been one of the most buoyant areas in bankingin the past two years, built on business with oil, gas andenergy services firms based in the city. Wells' office is led byKendal Milne, a former Barclays and DNB oiland gas banker.
Wells Fargo is regarded as one of the winners from thefinancial crisis and last month reported record quarterlyearnings and its highest ever share price.
It last year became the world's biggest bank by market valueand is now more than $50 billion bigger than its nearestchallengers, including JPMorgan, ICBC andHSBC, yet it is mainly a U.S. bank with a modestinternational exposure.
"We're primarily a domestic bank but our American clientsare getting increasingly global. It's a consistent strategy,it's following our customers here," Johnston said.
The bank does not break out its European earnings, butJohnston said revenues in the region had grown by at least 10percent in each of the last three years.
Its European expansion is mainly targeting wholesaleservices for U.S. medium and large companies, and catering toEuropean firms active in the United States. Johnston saidBritain topped a survey of its customers two years ago of wherethey wanted more services, ahead of Canada and China.
Most of the expansion is in areas where it is strong in theUnited States, such as the energy industry and commercial realestate. It bought $5 billion of UK property loans last year fromGermany's Commerzbank. (Editing by Mark Potter)
