* Asia CEO says no client assets have moved from bank so far
* Says a lot of clients committed to staying
* Aims to replace leaving staff, to hire 200 more in 5 years
(Adds quotes, details throughout)
By Saeed Azhar and Neil Chatterjee
SINGAPORE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Private bank RBS Coutts said on Wednesday it is reaching out to clients in Asia to limit outflows, with many promising to stay with the bank, after more than a quarter of the staff at its Singapore office resigned.
The wealth manager, part of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), is getting help from other parts of the bank to serve its Asian clients, Nick Pollard, Asia chief executive of the wealth manager, told Reuters in a phone interview.
"As bankers move they try to take their books with them," he said. "Clearly my job is to make sure the amount that leaves is as small as possible," he said, declining to put a number on the possible outflows.
RBS Coutts said on Tuesday "a little over 70 people" had resigned, equivalent to about 28 percent of Coutts' Singapore staff and 15 percent of the wealth manager's Asia staff. Sources told Reuters that some are joining Swiss-based rival BSI as competition for Asian private bankers heats up.
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Pollard, who moved into his current job six weeks ago from Coutts in the UK, said the bank is trying to convince its clients that it is committed to staying and growing in Asia.
"It is clearly not great when you have the sort of PR that we had in the past few weeks," Pollard said. "A lot of clients are loyal, we've had a lot of warm wishes and clients who have said they are still committed."
The bank's Asian assets have slipped to 17 billion Swiss francs from 19 billion Swiss francs a year ago, which Pollard said was more because of market losses than client outflows.
The private bank is sticking to its plan to double its assets in five years and hire an additional 200 staff in the same period, on top of replacing all departing staff as soon as possible -- but he would not be rushing to hire anyone.
The bank placed a large recruitment advert in Singapore's Straits Times paper a few days ago asking for experienced private bankers. This came weeks after Australia and New Zealand Banking Group advertised, aiming to hire 100 private bankers.
The exodus of yet more investment bankers from part-nationalised RBS follows the recent planned introduction of new British rules to curb bonuses.
"If you are an ambitious Asian wealth manager, why would you go and work for any British bank?," an unnamed banking analyst said on Tuesday, referring to caps on bonuses at a time when wealth managers in Asia are competing for staff.
Pollard said that there was no "single trend" that led to the departures, but added some bankers do leave with senior executives.
The Asian departures from RBS Coutts -- sister company to London-based Coutts & Co, which counts Queen Elizabeth II among its clients -- come just weeks after former co-CEO Hanspeter Brunner left to head-up BSI's Asian operations out of Singapore.
Sources familiar with the situation said Raj Sriram, head of RBS Coutts' South Asia unit, had also left to join BSI and some staff will join him and Brunner.
Private banks and boutique firms are vying to tap the growth of millionaires in Asia. High net-worth individuals' wealth in Asia-Pacific is seen climbing 8.8 percent a year for the next 10 years, according to Merrill Lynch/Capgemini.
Pollard said offering more cash to staff looking to depart was not the right strategy to build the business.
"It wasn't a question of simply throwing money at the situation." (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)