Merrill Lynch has boosted its presence in the Asian private banking market by hiring a trio of former Citigroup bankers, a day after Swiss bank Credit Suisse took a team of three from Citigroup's wealth management arm.

Alston Beinhorn, the former managing director and head of Malaysia and Brunei has been appointed to help develop private banking in southeast Asia at Merrill, while Chan Keew Him will spearhead business in Indonesia. Chan quit as a senior private banker from Citigroup Singapore in April, reports Bloomberg.