(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.s assets at its Asian wealth-management businesses climbed to a record $251 billion at the end of May as the U.S. bank lured new customers.
Assets under management grew 10% from a year earlier, Citigroup said in an e-mailed statement today. The New York-based bank, ranked third by assets in the U.S., offers wealth-management services to more than 630,000 clients in 13 countries in Asia.
U.S. and European banks have been seeking to boost their wealth businesses in Asia to tap rising affluence in economies from China to Southeast Asia. Private wealth in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan jumped 31 percent to $37 trillion in 2013 from a year earlier, according to a June 10 report from Boston Consulting Group.
Chinas $22 trillion in private financial wealth is expected to increase more than 80% to $40 trillion by 2018, while the U.S. may grow to $54 trillion from $46 trillion in the same period, BCG said.
Citigroup, which managed $228 billion in wealth as of Dec. 31 in Asia, was ranked the biggest manager in the region, according to an Asian Private Banker survey in April. The firms wealth management business includes operations at its Citibank, Citigold and private banking units.
Cie. Lombard, Odier SCAs private bank in Asia, is seeking to lure millionaires from Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and China to increase assets under management by as much as 20% a year, Vincent Magnenat, the firms head of private banking in the region, said in an interview earlier this month. Lombard Odier is Genevas oldest bank.
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