Taipei Fubon among several looking to challenge big-name expatriate banks. Taiwan's Taipei Fubon Bank has begun offering private-banking services to clients with at least $900,000 in investable assets. Presently the Taiwanese retail and commercial bank has a more than 2,000 such clients.

Others to follow

Prior to the launch of its private-banking platform, Taipei Fibon provided only generic banking products to its wealthy private clients. The bank's private-banking business has a staff of about 25, who provide bespoke investment products -- including overseas investments -- and tax-planning services.

Other home-grown banks looking to compete with foreign wealth managers like Citigroup and UBS are Taishin International Bank and Chinatrust Bank, though they have yet to secure permission from Taiwanese regulators to provide high-net-worth services.

The Asian-Pacific region saw an 8.6% increase in its high-net-worth population in 2006, , according to Capgemini's and Merrill Lynch's latest World Wealth Report, with Taiwan -- along with Singapore and Indonesia -- among the pace setters.

Taipei Fubon is the result of the early-2005 merger of Fubon Bank with TaipeiBank. -FWR

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