Citigroup's private bank wants to double net profit in the next three years and plans in part to achieve this by tapping growth from wealthy individuals in emerging markets who have more than $25 million to invest, according to the Wall Street Journal. It wants to hire roughly 300 private bankers over the next three years, primarily in the US and Asia.

Earlier this year Citi Private Bank said it has plans to almost double its private banker force in North America from approximately to 150 to 230 – 250 in the next few years. This remains the plan, a spokesman for the bank told WealthBriefingAsia. He declined to say how many private bankers it currently has in the region.

"Most of our competitors are at the moment trying to get their footprints built in Asia. We're already there. For us, it's about the flows. It's about the network and the connectivity, rather than getting the footprint itself built," unit head Jane Fraser told the WSJ in an interview.

Citigroup estimates that more than $5 trillion in assets will be inherited by the next generation, something the bank is planning for in part by positioning itself as a younger, hipper version of a private bank.

"Young people have a very different mindset than people in their 40s or in their 60s ... a good private bank serves the new world rather than the old, fuddy-duddy private banker sitting in a Swiss wood-paneled library office, occasionally picking up the phone and having long lunches - that's certainly not going to work in our world," Fraser told the news service.

As part of its plan to attract the next generation Citi Private Bank recently launched an iPad application,