The firm has hired a new managing director of its international team to expand its presence in Europe, part of a trend of Asian banks setting up business operations in the region.

Bank of Singapore has appointed Anthony Simcic as managing director of its international team, effective 12 March. The hire is part of the bank's plans to grow its operations surrounding high net worth individuals in Europe.

Simcic will be responsible for expanding the bank’s presence in the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA comprises the European Union countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. He will report directly to Olivier Denis, global market head for Singapore, Malaysia and international. He has more than 18 years of banking experience, and was previously head of private banking at HSBC Private Bank Luxembourg.

The move comes at a time when banks in Asia, such as another Singaporean lender, DBS, are seeking to tap into the European market. DBS last year acquired a UK securities licence.  In the DBS case, the move was seen as an endorsement of London despite of the UK vote in June 2016 to leave the European Union. The UK is home to a significant Asia expat population, so such banks have an opportunity to engage with this client base.

Singapore's connections and prowess as a financial hub are attractive to certain high net worth clients, Bank of Singapore's Denis said. “Since the global financial crisis in 2008, there has been rising interest among European HNWIs and family offices to consider an alternative wealth hub in Asia, especially Singapore,” he said. “As a Singapore-headquartered private bank with a deep knowledge about and extensive insight into Asia, Bank of Singapore has been a natural choice for many of them. Our ability to help them with their investments in Asia by extending a broad array of commercial banking capabilities across OCBC Bank’s regional and international network is an attractive value proposition for them to tap on.

“Anthony’s extensive experience and leadership qualities will lend strength to our team as we continue to grow our market share and deepen client relationships by enhancing the quality of our services to our clients, existing and new," Denis added.