A top private banker at the group says it could boost RM recruitment by up to 50 per cent.

BOC Hong Kong (Holdings), now one of Asia’s largest private banks, intends to expand further, pitting itself against domestic Asian and international lenders vying to win a slice of rising regional wealth.

Wendy Tsang, managing director at BOC Hong Kong Private Banking, told Bloomberg recently that she aims to boost the number of relationship managers (RMs) by at least 20 per cent from the current 120 -- and, if there’s enough available talent, by up to 50 per cent. The unit of Bank of China will recruit  externally and internally as it integrates its parent’s Southeast Asian operations, acquired over the past two years, the report said. (The story did not give a time-frame for the expansion.)

As the news service notes, BOC Hong Kong, which started private banking in 2012 with three employees, is now one of only two Chinese banks among Asia’s top 20 players in the segment.

The bank has leveraged its 100 years in Hong Kong serving the city’s conglomerates and wealthy families through its commercial and retail banking arms, and has attracted new business from Chinese holding assets offshore which now accounts for about 50 per cent of the private bank’s client base, Tsang said.

The bank is competing against players such as UBS, which has ramped up hiring in Hong Kong and the surrounding region in recent years; DBS, which in January said it intended to boost headcount up to 20 per cent this year in different jurisdictions; Bank of Singapore, which has boosted headcount, Credit Suisse which has made a number of hires in the region, while China-based ICBC, which has a wealth management business, is planning to build its presence beyond Greater China.

For all Asia’s vaunted rise in wealth, making money in the region hasn’t been a foregone conclusion.

Competition has seen some foreign houses, such as Societe Generale, Barclays, ABN AMRO, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, shift out of Asian private banking. However, in such cases, the parent firms were prompted by motives such as cost-cutting and a failure to hit critical mass of profitable business.

Last week, Capgemini’s annual World Wealth Report found that the total wealth of high-net-worth individuals globally pushed over the $70 trillion mark for the first time, with Asia being an important driver.

(Editor's comment: A number of banks have set out strong recruitment goals. This should focus minds even more on efforts to develop talent in-house and for banks to work with post-graduate programmes and business schools. This is already happening in jurisdictions such as Singapore, for example, and this publication regularly tracks talent management. While modern technology can augment RMs' productivity and increase client coverage ratios, it isn't a silver bullet, and firms will need to work out strategies to attract the best and the brightest talent available in the years to come.)