RBS Coutts has announced that eight new private bankers are joining its South East Asia team.

Bruno Merlino has been named team leader for Indonesia. Merlino is from UBS in Singapore, where he served as executive director and Indonesia desk head. He begins on his new role on 1 December 2010.

Also joining the firm, is Syed Al-Idid, who will become senior private banker to lead a new team focused on developing the Malaysia market. Al-Idid is from Credit Suisse Private Bank in Singapore, where he was senior relationship manager for ultra high net worth and high net worth clients.

Another new senior private banker in Marco Fleischmann, who will be covering the Indonesia market. He was previously the desk head in the Indonesia team in Singapore and was subsequently appointed as chief representative of UBS in Jakarta. Gwendaline Lim also is a new senior private banker, joining from Hong Leong Bank in Singapore. Lim will be covering both Singapore and Malaysia markets.

Stepping in as private bankers are Julian Chester, Daniel Tang, James Pang, and Aaron Ng. Chester will be in charge of the expatriates market in Singapore and South East Asia, Tang for the Singapore/Malaysia Team, and Pang and Ng for the Thailand Team. Chester was an expat specialist at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, Tang was a Malaysian specialist for United Overseas Bank, while Pang and Ng are both former relationship managers at HSBC in Singapore.

"[The appointments] underscore the appeal and strength of the RBS Coutts brand in the industry. We will continue to recruit experienced private bankers to further strengthen our market presence and fuel the growth of our business in the region," Manfred Liechti, the market head for South East Asia, said in a statement.

In the same statement, Nick Pollard, chief executive for RBS Coutts Asia, said that the bank has plans to double its business in the region over the next three to four years.

"We have made 150 hires in Asia over the last 12 months. These new hires, a significant number by any measure, underline our growth ambitions in Asia, which still is very much one of the fastest growing wealth management markets in the world," said Pollard.

Since the start of 2010, RBS Coutts has made major executive appointments to the Asian team, including the naming of Norman Villamin as head of investment strategy for Asia and Ignatius Chong as head of private banking for North Asia. Liechti and Ranjit Khanna were also recently appointed as market heads for South East Asia and NRI/South Asia, respectively, reporting to Paul Davies, the head of private banking for South Asia. RBS also moved London-based global co-chief investment officer Nick Cringle to Hong Kong in March.