Australian bank ''to grow Asian operations''

Westpac Banking is looking towards making Singapore the centre of its operations in Asia, it has been reported.

According to Reuters, the financial services provider - which is the third largest bank in Australia - is set to recruit people to finance jobs in Singapore in the fields of credit and rates trading and the sales functions that relate to these areas.

However, Lloyd Cartwright, Westpac's head of financial markets in Asia, declined to answer when asked to provide exact figures on how many people the lender hopes to hire.

The news agency notes that he claimed it would be around double the number of bankers currently working for the team.

In addition, the firm hopes to begin trading Asian Non-Deliverable Forwards.

Elsewhere, BMO Capital Markets - the investment and corporate banking division of Bank of Montreal - is also looking to expand its presence in Asia, by opening a new foreign exchange office in Hong Kong.