The head of Bank of Singapore, the newly renamed private banking unit of OCBC Bank, has set out ambitious goals to expand the bank’s reach in Europe and the Middle East, according to media reports.

Renato "Bing" de Guzman, who now heads the renamed ING Asia Private Bank after it was acquired by OCBC in October last year, told journalists on Friday that he wanted Bank of Singapore to be the largest private bank in Southeast Asia and among the top three wealth managers in Greater China.

The OCBC deal, coming at a time of several merger and acquisition deals for private banking in Asia as well as the rest of the world, has created one of the Asian region’s wealth management heavyweights.

Mr de Guzman was quoted as saying that the bank would also pursue new business in Europe and the Middle East “where there is demand for a local Singapore private banking service that is different from branches of European banks”, and strengthen its existing business serving non-resident Indians.

“There's quite a lot instability in the European market when it comes to private banking and people are looking for an alternative, and a very viable alternative is Singapore,” he was quoted as saying.