BNP Paribas Private Bank increasing Asia focus: report

Mumbai: BNP Paribas, France''s biggest bank, is increasing its presence in the private banking space in India China and Taiwan and expects total assets under its management in Asia to grow by an annual 20 per cent in the next few years, reports quoting Michel Longhini, CEO-Asia of BNP Paribas Private Bank, said.

BNP Paribas has a total of about $26-$27 billion in assets under management in Asia and expects that to grow to around $30-37 billion in the next few years.

The bank now has 30 staff in its onshore private banking operation in Shanghai and plans to double that to 60 by next year, he said.

In India, BNP Paribas'' onshore private banking unit, which has tied up with Sundram Finance to sell mutual fund products to domestic clients, employs 60 people in six cities. In Taiwan, the bank employs 30 people in two cities.

The French banking giant also has onshore private banking centres in Singapore and Hong Kong, which employ 300 and 250 people respectively.

At the end of 2006, China had 345,000 people with investable assets of more than $1 million each, according to the Capgemini Merrill Lynch 2007 World Wealth Report. Germany had 798,000.