BNP Paribas Private Bank, Asia has appointed Eugene Yang as managing director and head of its Premium Group, South Asia, a newly-established unit offering ultra high net worth individuals and families a holistic solution to wealth management.

The new unit will leverage on all the services of the business lines and product range of the BNP Paribas Group. The bank took in $4 billion of net new cash in 2006 as the ultra-rich in Asia made more money on the back of buoyant equity markets and a booming real estate sector.

These ultra-rich clients, defined as those with at least $50 million in assets, formed the bulk of the bank's new customers last year, said BNP Paribas Private Bank Asia chief executive Michel Longhini.

The bank has created a dedicated team of 8-10 people to offer investment banking services to this ultra-rich group in Singapore and India, following the success of a bundle approach which started four years ago in Hong Kong and later Europe, he said.

“It's bringing a single approach, all of BNP Paribas to our high-end clients,” Mr Longhini said.

Mr Yang joined BNP Paribas on 20 June 2007 and reports directly to Mr Longhini. Mr Yang started his career in the US and has worked for a number of major financial institutions in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.

He joins from Credit Suisse and will be based in Singapore.

The French-owned BNP Paribas Private Bank Asia has enjoyed strong growth of 27 per cent in assets a year in the last three years with assets reaching $25 billion, representing 12.5 per cent of the group's total global client assets of $200 billion.

Client assets in South-east Asia and India have reached about $10 billion while those in Greater China top $10 billion.