* Replaces Wilfried Kofmehl who will focus on key clients
* Asia set to become its second major market
* Julius Baer hopes to grow assets by 10-20 pct annually (Adds detail on Asian plans)
SINGAPORE, March 8 (Reuters) - Swiss wealth manager Julius
Baer
The appointment shows Switzerland's biggest dedicated
wealth manager is opting for local leadership in to grow its
business in a region where it competes against market leaders
UBS
Julius Baer has said it hopes to grow assets by 10-20 percent this year in Asia, where inflows last year compensated for a slowdown in its core Swiss business as a global tax crackdown forced many offshore clients to repatriate funds. [ID:nLDE6130W4]
Lim was deputy chief executive officer Singapore and head of investment finance before this promotion, the bank said.
Kofmehl, who is a managing director, has decided to focus purely on key client relationships which the bank said was part of a drive to assign senior managers to their top clients.
"Asia is set to become the second home market for Julius Baer," the company said in a statement. "The bank continues to expand in order to capitalise on the opportunities that exist in the Asian private banking market."
Last year, Julius Baer moved Thomas Meier, an executive board member, from Zurich to Singapore to strengthen its focus on emerging markets. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)