(Reuters) – Britain’s Barclays (LON.) Plc announced Wednesday that it has nearly doubled its stake at Barrenjoey Capital Partners in order to expand Australia’s investment banking boutique.

As Australia’s investment banking boutiques seek to eliminate bureaucracy at large banks and reduce bonuses, this move will be made by clients who are looking for niche expertise.

Barclays, Britain’s third largest bank in terms of market capital, increased its shareholding from 9.9% to 18.2% by subscribing A$75million ($52.72million) in Barrenjoey. This new capital was created by ex-UBS bankers and is funded by Barclays and Magellan.

Barclays stated that Australia was an integral part of their strategic growth plans for the Asia Pacific region.

Barclays stated that this additional capital is crucial to the growth of Barrenjoey’s market business. This includes the creation of fixed income derivatives as well as equity financing platforms.

($1 = 1.4227 Australian dollars)