diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20f39c8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.gemfire.config;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ManagedList;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.ClientRegionFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.Interest;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.RegexInterest;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+import org.springframework.util.xml.DomUtils;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+
+import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.Scope;
+
+/**
+ * Parser for <client-region;gt; definitions.
+ * 
+ * To avoid eager evaluations, the region interests are declared as nested definition.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+class ClientRegionParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
+
+	protected Class<?> getBeanClass(Element element) {
+		return ClientRegionFactoryBean.class;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected void doParse(Element element, ParserContext parserContext, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		super.doParse(element, builder);
+
+		// set scope
+		// since the user can define both client and p2p regions
+		// setting the cache/DS to a be 'loner' isn't feasible
+		// so to prevent both client and p2p communication in the region,
+		// the scope is fixed to local
+		builder.addPropertyValue("scope", Scope.LOCAL);
+
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "data-policy", "dataPolicy");
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "name", "name");
+
+		String attr = element.getAttribute("cache-ref");
+		// add cache reference (fallback to default if nothing is specified)
+		builder.addPropertyReference("cache", (StringUtils.hasText(attr) ? attr : "cache"));
+
+		ManagedList<Object> interests = new ManagedList<Object>();
+
+		// parse nested declarations
+		List<Element> subElements = DomUtils.getChildElements(element);
+
+		// parse nested cache-listener elements
+		for (Element subElement : subElements) {
+			String name = subElement.getLocalName();
+
+			if ("cache-listener".equals(name)) {
+				builder.addPropertyValue("cacheListeners", parseCacheListener(parserContext, subElement, builder));
+			}
+
+			else if ("key-interest".equals(name)) {
+				interests.add(parseKeyInterest(parserContext, subElement, builder));
+			}
+
+			else if ("regex-interest".equals(name)) {
+				interests.add(parseRegexInterest(parserContext, subElement, builder));
+			}
+		}
+
+		if (!subElements.isEmpty()) {
+			builder.addPropertyValue("interests", subElements);
+		}
+	}
+
+	private Object parseCacheListener(ParserContext parserContext, Element subElement, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		return ParsingUtils.parseRefOrNestedBeanDeclaration(parserContext, subElement, builder);
+	}
+
+	private Object parseKeyInterest(ParserContext parserContext, Element subElement, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		BeanDefinitionBuilder keyInterestBuilder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(Interest.class);
+		parseCommonInterestAttr(subElement, keyInterestBuilder);
+
+		Object key = ParsingUtils.parseRefOrNestedBeanDeclaration(parserContext, subElement, keyInterestBuilder,
+				"key-ref");
+		keyInterestBuilder.addConstructorArgValue(key);
+		return keyInterestBuilder.getBeanDefinition();
+	}
+
+	private Object parseRegexInterest(ParserContext parserContext, Element subElement, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		BeanDefinitionBuilder regexInterestBuilder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(RegexInterest.class);
+
+		parseCommonInterestAttr(subElement, regexInterestBuilder);
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(subElement, builder, "key", "key");
+
+		return regexInterestBuilder.getBeanDefinition();
+	}
+
+	private void parseCommonInterestAttr(Element element, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "durable", "durable");
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "result-policy", "policy");
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
index fef2ec8e..373610db 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
@@ -29,5 +29,6 @@ class GemfireNamespaceHandler extends NamespaceHandlerSupport {
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("cache", new CacheParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("replicated-region", new ReplicatedRegionParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("partitioned-region", new PartitionedRegionParser());
+		registerBeanDefinitionParser("client-region", new ClientRegionParser());
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ParsingUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ParsingUtils.java
index 9c7df702..78ff4b47 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ParsingUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ParsingUtils.java
@@ -63,7 +63,11 @@ abstract class ParsingUtils {
 	 * @return
 	 */
 	static Object parseRefOrNestedBeanDeclaration(ParserContext parserContext, Element element, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
-		String attr = element.getAttribute("ref");
+		return parseRefOrNestedBeanDeclaration(parserContext, element, builder, "ref");
+	}
+
+	static Object parseRefOrNestedBeanDeclaration(ParserContext parserContext, Element element, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder, String refAttrName) {
+		String attr = element.getAttribute(refAttrName);
 		boolean hasRef = StringUtils.hasText(attr);
 
 		// check nested declarations
@@ -72,16 +76,16 @@ abstract class ParsingUtils {
 		if (hasRef) {
 			if (!childElements.isEmpty()) {
 				parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
-						"either use the 'ref' attribute or a nested bean declaration for '" + element.getLocalName()
-								+ "' element, but not both", element);
+						"either use the '" + refAttrName + "' attribute or a nested bean declaration for '"
+								+ element.getLocalName() + "' element, but not both", element);
 			}
 			return new RuntimeBeanReference(attr);
 		}
 
 		if (childElements.isEmpty()) {
 			parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
-					"specify either 'ref' attribute or a nested bean declaration for '" + element.getLocalName()
-							+ "' element", element);
+					"specify either '" + refAttrName + "' attribute or a nested bean declaration for '"
+							+ element.getLocalName() + "' element", element);
 		}
 
 		// nested parse nested bean definition