Pauline Chung has left the bank after three years in the role, confirmed as spokeswoman. Her plans are as yet unknown and she could not be reached for comment.

Before Julius Baer, Chung was the head of China for HSBC Private Bank. Prior to this she worked as country team head of China for UBS for over seven years.

It is the latest blow for the Zurich-based bank, after Chung’s boss and the chief executive of North Asia, Andrea Benenati, left in June to set up as an independent asset manager.

Benenati had been with the bank since the beginning of 2006 and was instrumental in building up the business in the high growth region, said Julius Baer at the time.

His role was assumed by Thomas Meier, who was chief executive of Asia and the Middle East, will also became the chief executive of Julius Baer's Hong Kong branch in June.

Private banks are fighting it out for a share of the growing pool of wealthy individuals in Asia, where there are now more than three million millionaires. 

According to the latest Merrill Lynch and Capgemini World Wealth Report, the combined wealth of Asia-Pacific high-net-worth individuals, or those with investible assets of more than $1 million, is set to grow at an annual rate of 8.8 percent until 2018, faster than the global average of 7.1 percent.

In Asia, Julius Baer has operations in Singapore and Hong Kong and has plans for a representative office in China, subject to receiving regulatory approval.

The wealth manager, which manages about SFr170 billion ($191 billion) in client assets globally, wants to double its Asian assets to up to a quarter of its total assets under management in five years, it said last year.