CHINA Merchants Bank said its top-end private banking business has risen by 35 percent in three years riding on China's growing crop of millionaires.

The Shenzhen-based bank defines clients with assets more than 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) as private banking clients.

"Client base and assets under management have kept a strong growth since we forayed into the pyramid-end segment in August 2007," the bank said yesterday.

The bank has opened 19 private banking centers in China to meet the needs of super rich in major cities.