A private bank on the Chinese mainland aims to set a trend through global expansion of its wealth management business.

Assets under management at China Merchants Bank's private bank have surged by more than RMB200 billion ($32.3 billion) in the first five months of 2015 as it prepares for one of the first significant global expansions by a wealth manager in the Chinese mainland, the South China Morning Post reported. The bank also said its international expansion could include acquisitions in Europe.

The private bank's assets under management jumped from RMB752.6 billion at the end of last year to about RMB970 billion in May, up around 29 per cent in just five months, Cai Canhuang, a senior vice-president at China Merchants Bank, told the publication.

A large factor in the surge was strong investment in the mainland stock market during that five-month period, the report said.

"It wasn't all from stocks but that was a big part," Cai was quoted as saying.

Over the same period, the Shanghai Composite Index rose by about 50 per cent.

The private bank is setting out on a major global expansion.

Merchants Bank's private bank opened its first official operations in Hong Kong last month, although it has for years maintained a wealth management business in the city via Wing Lung Bank, the local bank it took over in 2008.

Cai said the private bank intends to open a branch in Singapore by the end of the year and was on the hunt for merger and acquisition targets in Europe.

"We are looking for this kind of opportunity, especially at Swiss banks," he was quoted as saying, listing out cities where the bank planned to open branches, including London, Luxembourg, Vancouver and Sydney.