JP Morgan intends to triple private banking assets in Asia, its fastest-growing market, over the next five years, one of its top executives has told Bloomberg in an interview.

The unit, which manages money for wealthy clients and employs 400 people in Asia, intends to increase its number of client advisors in the region by 40 per cent this year and next, after growing at a similar pace in 2009, Douglas Wurth, chief executive officer for international private banking at the US bank, told the news service.

JP Morgan aims to generate about half of its non-US business from Asia, up from the current 20 per cent, he said. Wurth moved to Hong Kong in February from New York.

“However excited one can be about the opportunities when you’re in New York, that only magnifies ten-fold once you’re here in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Jakarta,” Wurth said. “You just see up close and personal the dynamic changes taking place.”

JPMorgan’s expansion comes after the number of millionaires in the Asia-Pacific region reached 3 million in 2009, matching those in Europe for the first time, according to the report by Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit and Capgemini. The millionaires’ assets rose 31 per cent to $9.7 trillion, it said.

A number of Western banks have expanded operations in the region; in the case of HSBC, for example - a bank with historic origins in Asia but listed in London - it has moved its CEO to be permanently based in Hong Kong.

Wurth said the private bank will expand its services in Asia to the high net worth segment, or to people with investable assets of more than $10 million, from ultra high net worth people, or those with about $50 million. JP Morgan will also grow in markets like India and China, where it will hire more than half of its new staff, he said. The private bank manages more than $700 billion of assets globally, Wurth said.