* Thurston becomes global head of retail, wealth management
* Brian Robertson to replace Paul Thurston as UK head (Adds background, further CEO comment)
LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - British bank HSBC appointed its UK chief to be its first global head of retail banking and wealth management, tasked with attracting more customers from Asia's growing ranks of affluent individuals.
Paul Thurston will take up the new Hong Kong-based role in March, and will be replaced in Britain by Brian Robertson, currently HSBC's chief risk officer, the bank said on Friday.
The move to bolster HSBC's retail banking and wealth management unit is the first strategic change since Stuart Gulliver, the head of HSBC's investment banking arm, was named chief executive-designate in September.
"Configuring HSBC to realise its full potential in retail banking was always going to be my first priority," Gulliver said in a statement.
"With the massive wealth creation we see in emerging markets today, the logic for HSBC to build a world-class global wealth business for our customers is absolutely compelling."
Demand for wealth management services is booming, fuelled by soaring growth in the number of wealthy consumers in Asia's buoyant economies.
Last year, the number of affluent individuals in the Asia-Pacific region rose by 26 percent to 3 million, equalling the number of wealthy Europeans, according to a report published in September by consultants Capgemini.
The fastest rate of growth was in Hong Kong, where the wealthy population more than doubled.
HSBC's Robertson will be replaced as chief risk officer by Marc Moses, a senior executive at the group's investment banking arm, when he takes over as head of the UK division, the bank said.
HSBC's leading British rivals, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays, have also appointed new chief executives in the last three months.
HSBC shares were down 1 percent at 649 pence by 1600 GMT, while the FTSE 100 share index was 0.6 percent lower. (Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)