LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) – Standard Chartered Plc plans to employ up to 450 private bankers within a few years in its recently launched unit targeting wealthy clients in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, it said on Monday.
The Asia-focused bank has launched its private banking business with 150 advisers and plans to add 200 to 300 more in the next two to three years, said Peter Flavel, head of Standard Chartered’s private banking business.
The bank is aiming to attract business from a pool of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) estimated at about 3 million in Asia and the Middle East, about a third of the global total, Flavel said.
HNWIs have over $1 million in investable assets.
“Private banking in almost all of these markets is nascent in its nature but it’s growing very quickly. So the private bank markets in Korea, China, India are really at their very early stages,” Flavel said.
Standard Chartered said it is confident of taking on established advisers such as HSBC <0005.HK>, UBS , Citigroup to grab a piece of the fragmented Asian market on the back of its strong network across the region.
Flavel said the growth strategy was based on organic plans and the bank would consider acquisitions “if they make sense”.
Standard Chartered’s private bank is midway through its launch, Flavel said, which will see it operating in 10 markets including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai and New Delhi by the end of this month.
It opened a branch in London on Monday, mainly targeting the non-resident Indian and Pakistan community.
