Merrill Lynch Opens Bank for Wealthy Asians

Add a new name to the list of Los Angeles firms offering private banking services to the well-heeled. Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, Asia-Pacific Region, formally opens its “international private clients” office today in Beverly Hills.

The office is Merrill Lynch’s first U.S.-based operation catering specifically to Asian clients with a net worth of $10 million or more who are looking to diversify their assets. Private banking services include securities trading worldwide, global fixed income, real estate syndication and international cash management accounts.

“The emphasis on economic growth continues to be in the Asian Pacific region,” explained Kim Chuan Ng, 35, managing director of the new Beverly Hills office. “The surplus situation in Japan, Taiwan and Korea continues to be humongous. Those monies--if kept in those countries--would be inflationary. There is an acute need to diversify these resources to countries considered stable, like the United States and Canada.”

Until now, Merrill Lynch has offered such services to its foreign clients through existing offices. Its new international private clients group puts it in competition with American Express Bank International, Citicorp, First Interstate Bank, Bank of America, Security Pacific, Credit Suisse and Union Bank of Switzerland.

Ng, who previously served as executive director of Asia Pacific regional headquarters of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in Hong Kong, oversees a staff of 10 who speak 10 different languages. The Beverly Hills office was profitable within the first month of its informal opening in January. Ng said the number of clients and their investments is confidential.

But sources in private banking say Merrill Lynch has accumulated more than a 1,000 clients through its new office.