JP Morgan Private Wealth Management is expanding in the Asia-Pacific region with a number of senior hires.

JP Morgan Private Wealth Management has hired Mark Evans as managing director, market manager for expatriate clients in Asia, a new division, and Salman Haider as managing director, market manager for Southeast Asia, as the US bank continues to build its wealth management stable in Asia.

Evans was previously managing director for expatriates in London for the Royal Bank of Canada and had also served for five years as head of global wealth management before that. Haider joins from Citibank's private client group, where he was the regional head covering high net worth client segments across 14 Asian markets. They both report to Peter Flavel, the chief executive of the bank's Asia private wealth arm. Evans officially steps into his Hong Kong-based position today, while Haider will assume his role in Singapore on 18 July.

Flavel said: “The high-net-worth expatriate segment is a new market for us...where we will cover the ever growing presence of high-net-worth expatriates working across Asia. As we continue the build out of our high-net-worth business in Asia, we are very excited to have the diverse experience and expertise of both Salman and Mark.”

JP Morgan Private Wealth focuses on two client segments: high net worth clients, or those with a net worth of $10 million to $30 million, and the ultra-high net worth clients, or those with more than $30 million. According to the latest Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report, Asia saw a 9.7 per cent rise in the number of millionaires in 2010, surpassing Europe.

The wealth manager announced a series of appointments in Asia over the past month, including the hire of Edwin Lim from DBS Private Bank as its managing director, market manager for Greater China. The company is also looking to hire around 100 relationship managers in the region by the end of 2012. (see a related story here)