It also bulked up its asset-management and private-banking arms, run by Jacques d'Estais (who used to head the investment bank).
Fraud was a material part of the mortgage collapse, a big factor in commercial property and loan losses and a component in investment banking and private-equity losses that did more damage than acknowledged.
Lots of its emerging-market staff sell private-banking services, which should suffer less.
According to a recent annual survey of private banking by McKinsey, a firm of international consultants, between 2003 and 2005 the Belgian private-banking market grew by 27% a year, compared with an average of 12% for the rest of Europe.
According to the Bank of England's analysis, if every single one of those countries went bust and wrote off 50% of their sovereign debt, banking debt and non-bank private-sector debt, that would wipe out around half the capital in the UK banking system - which is another way of saying that, in theory, the majority of our banks would limp on.
"Everyone thinks they need to be in Asia, because of China, but it's difficult to make money, " said Eduardo Leemann, head of Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank, the former private-banking arm of American International Group Inc.
Although the country is still host to about one-third of the world's offshore assets, its attraction as a private-banking centre has dwindled.
It has plans to increase the number of branches further and to expand its private-banking activities.
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They think South Korea's private-banking business will grow as the government deregulates financial markets.
The Bank of Korea issued a warning in October that the local private-banking market needed to mature.
He then moved to ABN Amro North America to lead its private-banking operations.
Citigroup managing director Kent Lucken agrees, saying more of his private-banking clients are leveraging hedge funds to expand their portfolios.
The bank is also vaguely worried that private-banking accounts may be used by money launderers or embezzled by bank employees.
Bank of Singapore, the private- banking arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
Most Belgian private-banking customers are natives, rather than tax exiles from abroad.
The bank, formed when OCBC in 2010 bought ING's Asia private- banking business, has increased its NRI assets under management by 20% annually.
In the dull business of looking after money, the banks offer private-banking clients similar, predictable packages, including tax and legal advice, asset management, discounts on certain fees and so forth.
Mr. Chapman stayed with Shearson through further mergers and Mr. Weill's eventual sale of the company to American Express, where Mr. Chapman became vice chairman and in charge of developing a global private-banking network.
Earlier this year, Citigroup bought a controlling stake in KorAm Bank, which increased its private-banking network there from a dozen branches to over 200, while Standard Chartered last month opened its first branch in Seoul dedicated to private banking.
Recent banking reforms have helped increase private-sector growth and investment, and the government has increased spending on agriculture to 7% of its budget.
Citigroup estimates that private banking in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, will grow at an annual rate of 20-30% in the next five years.
By contrast, China Merchants Bank (CMB) is fairly nimble, with 800 branches and a strong presence in private banking and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).
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Hong Leong Financial Group, a Malaysian lender controlled by the country's sixth-richest man Quek Leng Chan, in January offered to take its 79 percent-owned investment banking arm Hong Leong Capital private.
The rest are to be bundled into the bank's private-client and asset-management division, which houses Deutsche Bank 24, the retail-banking arm (which already serves some small firms in any case), private banking (for richer customers) and Deutsche's online broker, called maxblue.
In his banking days Davidson worked in spacious, well-appointed private offices with his own secretary.
As with UBS, the investigation of Credit Suisse concerns historical private banking services provided on a cross-border basis to U.S. persons.
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