Coutts has hired the former head of wealth management at Credit Suisse's India unit, after the Swiss bank cut a fifth of its headcount in the region last summer. 

UK private bank Coutts named Puneet Matta as managing director and regional head of non resident Indian business for Asia, as the latest expansion in this area.

Based in Singapore, Matta will "drive a proactive sales management culture and lead the teams to achieve financial targets", said Coutts. He starts immediately.
 
Matta left Credit Suisse last August, amidst the departure of 12 individuals out of a total of 60 in the Swiss bank's India wealth management unit. He went straight into a job as chief executive of insurer Aon's India business, which he held for only six months before moving to Coutts. Aon did not immediately return calls on whether he will be replaced. 

Before Credit Suisse, Matta held senior roles at Citibank in India.

Coutts has been aggressively building its NRI team, last week announcing the appointment of a team of four for its Middle East business, to focus on wealthy non-resident Indians in the region.

Rishi Mansukhani joined the bank as executive director, from HSBC’s private banking division. Mahesh Ram joined Coutts as a director, from ABN Amro. Jai Prakash Paliwal joined as a director from ICICI Bank where he was a vice president. Amit Tyagi joined as a vice president from HSBC’s private banking division, where he was an associate director.

“Coutts was one of the first private banks to focus on South Asians and NRIs and over the past 12 years, we have successfully developed one of the most successful NRI businesses globally," said Ranjit Khanna, head of South East Asia & global NRI at Coutts.