Australia's largest bank, the National Australia Bank (NAB), is planning to build its private banking business in Asia rapidly. It already has a significant presence in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Although NAB has been in New Zealand and the UK for almost two decades, its presence in Asia has so far been limited only to a few selected markets. "We have two main business lines in Asia. One is our capital business, corporate, institutional business, which is based out of Hong Kong. We also have a retail, premier and private banking business," says Leigh Watson, chief operating officer of NAB, Asia. "We have branches in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo currently. And we have representative offices in China and India markets in Beijing and Mumbai respectively. And we're looking to potentially enter those markets in the future. "We haven't set any targets for profit contribution, but we're expecting double-digit growth from our Asian business over the next few years," said Watson. In Singapore, most of NAB's clients are Australian expatriates. But as more high net worth individuals choose wealth management services here, NAB hopes to capture a larger slice of the market to expand its product line for private and premier banking clients. And there are similar plans to grow in Hong Kong. "We already have a branch in Hong Kong for our capital business. That's a growing business. We also have a branch for retail and private banking business at the moment," said Watson. "The products we offer are fairly simple – foreign currency deposits and property loans. But we're looking to expand our product and service lines to our customers in the future," he added. The bank is trying to catch up with rival banking groups, which have been aggressively seeking opportunities in the huge Chinese market, to tap into the high levels of savings and growing affluence in the country.