By CONRAD TAN

PRIVATE banks need to focus much more on advising clients on their investments rather than selling products to restore the industry's reputation, a Swiss banker said yesterday.

Before the crisis, 'banks were using private bankers to sell products they make - that's very bad for the industry', said Jean-Pierre Cuoni, founder and chairman of Swiss bank EFG International.

'Private bankers must be advisers, not sales people,' Mr Cuoni said. 'I think clients, particularly now, through the shock of the financial crisis, will learn to distinguish between sales organisations and more professional organisations.'

Mr Cuoni, who is based at EFG's headquarters in Zurich, was in town to celebrate the move of its Singapore unit, EFG Bank, to new premises at 25 North Bridge Road. EFG Bank now occupies seven floors of the nine-storey building, which has been renamed the EFG Bank Building. The other two floors are occupied by the building's owner and developer, RB Capital.

EFG has 130 employees in Singapore, 70 of whom are what the bank calls client relationship officers (CROs) - more commonly known as relationship managers - who deal with wealthy customers.

The bank plans to hire more such staff as it expands, Mr Cuoni said. 'I can easily see we could double the number of CROs in five years to 320 people.'

Asked if he expects to hire private bankers from competitors, he replied: 'Frankly, yes.'

EFG started in Asia a decade ago, with just a dozen people in Singapore and Hong Kong. It now has 470 people and more offices in new locations including Jakarta and Bangkok. It also plans to open a representative office in Shanghai soon, after receiving a licence from regulators in China earlier this year.

Overall, Mr Cuoni is bullish about the prospects for private banking in Asia. 'The wealth creation in Asia is very real, sustainable and long term,' he said.

'On the other hand, financial markets have become increasingly complex. Investors need help in understanding them, they need an intermediary - that's the private banker.'

Risk appetite is slowly returning, he reckons. 'Interestingly, we have already seen indications of investors asking for hedge funds, funds of funds, structured products - products that were declared dead only six months ago.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.