In an unprecedented move, two international groups - UBS, Asia's biggest private bank, and Standard Chartered, the emerging market-focused ba nk - have informally agreed to refrain from hiring bankers from DBS and OCBC, two local banks, for an unspecified period.

The agreement, struck earlier this year, is believed to have the blessing of the Singapore Government, which sees a thriving private banking industry as important to its plans to become a regional financial centre.

"The international banks are telling us: 'Don't show us any CVs from these two local banks'," said one senior headhunter. "The authorities want a cooling-off period, because they are concerned about aggressive hiring tactics."

The step follows the issuing of recruiting guidelines earlier this year by the Association of Banks in Singapore and a Citibank lawsuit against seven former private bankers poached by UBS.

According to a senior Singapore-based private banker, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state's central bank, has also held talks with "all the large banks to make sure they observe the rules when hiring" and to discourage practices such as "aggressive team hiring and buying out notice periods".

In an effort to capture a share of Asia's newly created wealth, Singapore-based private banks will have to triple the total number of client relationship managers, or personal advisers, from 2000 to 6000 in the next five years, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

Asia-based banks are seeking to attract customers by hiring relationship managers who can persuade their old clients to follow them, fuelling an increasingly costly war for talent.

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