Bank Julius Baer has signed an eight-year deal with MGPA to lease a prime office space in Singapore, as part of its commitment to expand its business in the city state and the rest of the region.

The 71,000 square foot space in Asia Square's Tower 1 is located in the new downtown at Marina Bay, which is the largest in the area. The site also houses an exclusive five-star luxury business hotel, a landscaped plaza called The Cube, and a huge retail space that caters to various needs of the high net worth demographic. Asia Square has been gaining a lot of attention from the banking, legal and professional services sectors since the launch of Tower 1 six months ago. Tower 2 is expected to completed by 2013.

"Singapore is important for our overall growth strategy in the region. Our new address will support this plan. We will set up a flagship office where our clients and employees can enjoy the finest standards in client hospitality, privacy, and working environment," Dr Thomas Meier, board member and chief executive for Asia and the Middle East at the Swiss bank, said in a statement.

The Swiss bank, along with a number of its peers such as UBS, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered, is targeting the Asia region as crucial for future growth, particularly as domestic markets have been hit by the financial crisis in recent years. Asia, by contrast, has been mostly unscathed.

Julius Baer, whose total client assets amounts to SFr255 billion as of June 2010, says Singapore is its alternative booking centre to Switzerland and is the chosen regional office for Asia and the Middle East.