INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-StanChart to hire 850 for priority banking

* Hiring will take place over next 12-18 months

* New hires include 430 in Greater China, 120 in Singapore

* Has gained market share in HK, Singapore mortgage market
(Adds details, background)

By Kevin Lim and Saeed Azhar

SINGAPORE, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered
(STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it plans to hire about 850
relationship managers for its priority banking service over the
next 12-18 months, to gain a larger market share of wealthy
customers in Asia.

"Priority has outperformed the market in the last few
years," StanChart's global head of premium banking Foo Mee Har
told Reuters in an interview.

"We have aspirations to double the industry growth rate and
double our customer numbers in three years."

Foo said household wealth in Asia excluding Japan is
expected to grow by 12 percent per annum between 2008 and 2012,
and Asia-focused StanChart hoped to expand its priority banking
business at twice the pace.

Foo said about 430 of the new hires will be in Greater
China, while Singapore and Malaysia will each add over 100
relationship managers in the next 12-18 months. The new hires
will make an increase of 65 percent from around 1,300 priority
banking relationship managers currently.

The bank has already relaunched its priority banking
service in Hong Kong and Singapore and plans to do so in China,
Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, India and the United Arab Emirates in
coming months.

Priority banking services are aimed at owners of small and
medium enterprises as well as senior executives who typically
can invest assets of more than $100,000 with the bank.

The perks include access to personal relationship managers,
separate queues at bank branches, access to loans at
preferential rates and help in setting up new accounts in
different countries.

Banks that currently cater to this customer segment on an
Asia-wide basis include Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and
Singapore's DBS Group (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research).

StanChart, which has emerged relatively unscathed from the
global financial crisis, completed the acquisition of Cazenove
Asia in January and its corporate bank has been hiring top
executives from rivals.

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Singapore-based Foo, who was previously CEO of StanChart
Thailand, said the British bank has benefitted from the
financial crisis and was attracting new deposits amid a "flight
to quality" as customers moved their savings towards stronger
lenders.

While sale of investment products had fallen over the past
year, StanChart's priority banking service has benefitted from
a growth in mortgage loans, and it is winning market share in
Hong Kong and Singapore where home sales have soared in recent
months.

"We have been able to capture increased market share in the
mortgage area where we have seen, in the first half, strong
property transactions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea," she
said.

The bank estimates its share of new mortgages in Hong Kong
at 19 percent currently, up from 13 percent last year. In
Singapore, its share of new home loans has grown to 22 percent.

Foo declined to reveal the number of priority banking
customers at Stanchart.

StanChart said earlier this year that it was reorganising
its consumer banking operations away from product sales to
focus on customer segments, and identified priority banking as
a key area.
(Editing by Neil Chatterjee)