China's largest private bank opens S'pore unit, eyes US$30b AUM in three years

Singapore

CHINA Merchants Bank, the country's largest private bank by assets, may manage as much as US$30 billion at its Singapore outfit in three years, as it rides the wave of growing wealth of Chinese businessmen, a senior executive from the bank told The Business Times.

The bank on Wednesday launched its unit in Singapore as a means to track the large swathe of Chinese nationals looking to set up business operations and live here, said Wang Jing, general manager for China Merchants Bank's private-banking unit, in an interview. She expects a growth trajectory here similar to that in Hong Kong, where in about three years the bank grew its assets under management (AUM) to US$30 billion.