(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc aims for a bigger slice of the business with German companies after adding employees and hiring a new country head.

The London-based lender, which gets the majority of its revenue in Germany from retail clients, wants to double its market share in investment and corporate banking to around 6%, Ingrid Hengster, who took over as country head this year, said in an interview.

“We have given ourselves five years to get there,“ she said at the lender’s offices in Frankfurt. “Germany is home to many global industrial giants. That is one of the reasons why Germany is so interesting for us.”

Barclays is joining Wall Street peers such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in targeting Europe’s largest economy for expansion, seeking to tap demand from the country’s export-focused corporations. Germany has only two large, publicly traded banks left as the industry struggles to rebound from the financial crisis.

Hengster joined from state-owned lender Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau where she served as a board member. She helped build KfW’s venture capital business and led aid programs for German companies during the pandemic.

Barclays has hired about 20 people for corporate and investment banking in German-speaking countries over the past eighteen months, including to fill new positions, she said. The lender also appointed Sven Baumann as head of investment banking for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He was previously with Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG.

While dealmaking has slowed this year, Hengster said many transactions are still being worked on, with clients waiting to find a bottom in valuations. 

“Our own M&A pipeline in the German-speaking region is strong”, she said, adding that she expects deals to pick up again in the second quarter of next year.

Hengster said she’s not engaging in a hiring spree in the country, but is still looking for talent in select areas in banking and markets. While Barclays is focused on corporate and investment banking for growth, retail clients will likely continue to generate more of the bank’s revenue in the country, Hengster said.

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