Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited said it has completed the acquisition of Singapore-based ING Asia Private Bank Limited and its subsidiaries for around $1.446 billion.

IAPB is now a wholly-owned private banking subsidiary of OCBC Bank and has been re-named Bank of Singapore Limited.

Bank of Singapore will be led by Renato de Guzman, the chief executive of the former IAPB. The private banking businesses of IAPB and OCBC Bank will be combined and operate as Bank of Singapore.

The deal creates one of Asia's largest private banks, with more than 7,000 clients and total private client assets under management of approximately $23 billion. It will also occupy a unique position as the only dedicated private bank that is headquartered in Singapore.

The private banking industry in Asia and the rest of the world has seen a number of merger and acquisition deals. In the latest case, Dutch-listed ING has been shedding assets to rebuild its balance sheet after suffering heavy losses in the global credit crunch.

“The successful completion of this acquisition marks a significant milestone in our private banking business. Our much larger private bank will significantly benefit customers from both IAPB and OCBC," said David Conner, chief executive of OCBC Bank.

"OCBC Private Bank customers will benefit from IAPB’s fully open architecture product platform and proprietary research, while IAPB customers will benefit from the access to OCBC’s extensive branch network and products and services that were previously not available to them, such as property financing, brokerage services, insurance, retail and SME banking products and services. We are committed to investing more in this franchise and to better serve the needs of our high net worth customers across our key markets," he said.

Mr de Guzman, CEO of Bank of Singapore, said, “As part of the OCBC family and with the strong backing of OCBC, we remain totally committed and dedicated to helping our clients to seek the best outcome for their financial goals, and to grow and protect their wealth. I am confident that Bank of Singapore will continue to grow and capture greater market share in existing and new markets. We will continue to focus on attracting some of the best talents in key markets and on talent development for long term growth and professional development as part of the OCBC Group.”