The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland’s RBS Coutts International business is optimistic about the firm’s prospects despite the financial crisis, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Swiss native Hanspeter Brunner said: "In recent months, we have gone through traumatic changes. But I am optimistic that we will emerge stronger from the crisis, as individuals and as an organisation.”

RBS Coutts International is a sister firm to Coutts, the UK-based private banking arm of RBS.

“As a bank, we have weathered many crises over our 300-year history, and personally I've been through quite a number of crises myself. But we have always focused on long-term wealth preservation. That philosophy has stood us through the good and bad. We have always been a forward-looking organization and we always ask ourselves, 'What about tomorrow?' This is all the more important now.”

The crisis has also brought home the importance of the basic relationship between the private banker and client. I have been closer to my clients and staff, spending more time than ever before listening to them. Some of these discussions are not easy conversations as we speak to clients who have seen their investments fall dramatically due to the volatility in the markets, and that is a challenge. In these times, it is all the more important to remain the trusted adviser for clients, holding their hands all the way,” Mr Brunner said.

Mr Brunner oversees RBS Coutts International's business across Europe, Asia and Latin America from Singapore, after moving the bank's headquarters there from Zurich, Switzerland, in 2006.

He joined Coutts in 1997 as chief operating officer for Asia and branch manager in Singapore. Before that, he held senior positions at Credit Suisse for 26 years. The RBS Coutts executive also holds the title of executive chairman for Asia, a continent he was only supposed to "stop by" on his way to Australia.

Mr Brunner has been stationed in the Asian region for 17 years, first in Beijing, then Hong Kong and Singapore. "I am excited about this region," he says. "This is where our business and most of the businesses have been growing, faster than in Europe or the US. In fact, RBS Coutts Asia accounts for a third of RBS Coutts International's annual revenue and assets under management."

RBS Coutts Asia has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. World-wide, RBS Coutts International, which employs 1,400 people in 15 locations, posted a profit of SFr190 million in 2007 on revenue of SFr620 million.

RBS Coutts said that this year's first half, "good growth in banking volumes led to a rise of 51 per cent in net interest income, offsetting weaker sales of equity-related investment products. Asia has seen good levels of client acquisition, though with lower average ticket sizes."

The company didn't make an estimate for all of 2008.

Parent company Royal Bank of Scotland Group has been hit hard by the global financial crisis because of its exposure to subprime loans and its acquisition of parts of Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding just before the credit crunch hit.

RBS recently became majority-owned by the UK government as part of London's plan to recapitalize the country's banks reeling from the global crisis.