The branch of the bank's wholly-owned subsidiary, Bank Hapoalim Switzerland, occupies a 3,600 sq ft office in Republic Plaza in Raffles Place.

It has 12 staff to serve private banking clients in Singapore and around the region.

While the bank already has two smaller representative offices in Hong Kong and Sydney, it decided to open a full-service branch in Singapore, said Bank Hapoalim's first vice-president for international public relations, Mr Joel Rabinowitz.

This is to tap the growth potential of the Asia-Pacific region and serve the needs of wealthy Israeli individuals looking to invest in this region.

Many of the bank's competitors, said Mr Rabinowitz, who is based in Israel's economic capital, Tel Aviv, already have a presence in Singapore to serve their clients, and 'we are no different'.

He said the bank had 'high expectations' for its Singapore branch, and picked the Republic for its good infrastructure, highly trained workforce and 'excellent name worldwide' as a financial hub.

The guest of honour at the opening last night was Foreign Minister George Yeo. Other officials attending included Bank Hapoalim chairman Dani Dankner, president and chief executive officer Zvi Ziv and Israeli ambassador to Singapore Ilan Ben-Dov.

Speaking to guests attending the bank's gala dinner at the Asian Civilisations Museum last night, Mr Yeo said he hoped that Bank Hapoalim's presence in Singapore would encourage more Israeli companies to use the Republic as a gateway to Asia.

'Singapore, as an international financial, business and logistics hub in the heart of South-east Asia, is well-positioned to benefit from the growth of China, Asean, India and the Middle East... In many ways, Singapore is becoming the London of a new re-emergent Asia,' he said.

Bank Hapoalim is Israel's leading financial group, with more than a third of the banking sector. It has a market capitalisation of roughly US$6 billion (S$8.65 billion) and total assets of more than US$68 billion.

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Mr Rabinowitz says Bank Hapoalim has high expectations for its Singapore branch, adding that it chose the Republic for its good infrastructure, highly trained workforce and excellent name worldwide as a financial hub.