Julius Baer hires 2 Merrill private bankers in S'pore

SINGAPORE, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer has hired two private bankers in Singapore from Bank of America's Merrill Lynch to focus on Southeast Asia as it grows its Asia business.

Lawrence Lua, a former managing director at Merrill Lynch, has been hired as managing director/senior advisor and will head a team of private bankers for the region, a statement said.

Frances Lee also joined Julius Baer as a relationship manager from Merrill Lynch, it said.

Singapore is the main office for Julius Baer's Asia operations.

Julius Baer has been recruiting senior private bankers from rivals such as Goldman Sachs and UBS to grow its Asian wealth management business.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Kevin Lim)

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