Citigroup Inc, the biggest US bank by assets, is planning to extend private banking services to more cities in China, including Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.

The bank, one of the first foreign institutions to offer the service targeting China's new rich in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, is looking to enlarge its customer base and increase the number of its specialized customer managers substantially from the current 13.

Both domestic lenders and their overseas rivals are vying to cash in on China's fast-growing army of new rich by providing customized financial services for the wealthy.

Launched at its first onshore office for the business in Shanghai last March, the bank opened a second one in Beijing this May, targeting people with at least $10 million.

"China will be our focus in the sector between this year and the next," said Andrew Tung, Citi Private Bank's managing director and global market manager for China.

"The sector has developed fast in the past two to three years and will keep growing rapidly. We are adopting a long-range method to develop this market in China," he said.

According to the latest research results by Rupert Hoogewerf, China has 150,000 super-rich with personal wealth of $5 million or more and their ranks are rising fast.

The researcher says 50 individuals in China have wealth of at least $1 billion, while 2,000 have over $100 million and 35,000 over $10 million.

The growing numbers of China's wealthy have interested both domestic and foreign private banking managers.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's largest lender, and Standard Chartered Bank both showed interest in private banking.

But Tung said the shortage of qualified professionals is a handicap for banks to extend the business. "The lack of experienced people has been the biggest headache for the private banking business in the last two to three years and will be a major problem in future."

(China Daily August 17, 2007)