Julius Baer has appointed a head of its Greater China team in moves to make Asia its second home market.

Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank, has appointed Victor Chao Tzu-Ping as head of the Greater China team with immediate effect.

Chao has 25 years of banking experience and steps in from Deutsche Bank where he most recently served as head of private wealth management in China and previously as head of private wealth management onshore in Taiwan. In this new role, he will focus on building the bank's operations in the region. He is joined by Catherine Tseng, who will lead a new initiative in the Greater China region for the key client segment. 

Both Chao and Tseng are based in Hong Kong and report directly to Dr Thomas Meier, the chief executive for Asia. 

Bank Julius Baer is working to make Asia its second home market. Early this year, the company named Singaporean national David Lim as chief executive of its Singapore private banking branch with the view to expand in this fast-growing region.

In a recent wealth study by the bank, Asia's high net worth population is forecast to double to 2.82 billion by 2015 with assets tripling to $15.8 trillion. High net worth individuals are defined as those with at least $1 million in investable assets. The growth trajectory for Hong Kong is 8.7 per cent over 5 years while Taiwan's is 14.4 per cent in the same period. The Greater China market is also touted to represent 1.65 million people with $10 trillion of wealth by 2015. (See related story here.)