NEWSMAKER-OCBC private bank's fortunes in hands of ING veteran

* De Guzman built ING's private banking arm in Asia

* Good networker, unparalleled access to wealthy Filipinos

* Popular with staff, has long-standing management team

By Kevin Lim and Rosemarie Francisco

SINGAPORE/MANILA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - With his dapper charm and wealthy friends, Filipino banker Renato de Guzman was instrumental in building ING's Asian private bank, and he will now lead his team into Europe and the Middle East under new owner OCBC.

Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI), Southeast Asia's third-largest lender, on Thursday bought ING Asia Private Bank for $1.5 billion, and said de Guzman, nicknamed "Bing", will be entrusted the combined private bank operation. [ID:nSIN503877]

"There is no question Bing will run the business," OCBC CEO David Conner told a briefing on the deal in Singapore, adding the bank had a retention agreement with senior ING bankers.

De Guzman is popular with employees, and his management team has been together for a long time -- a rarity in Asia where job-hopping is rampant among private bankers.

"If you're buying ING private bank, you're buying Bing," said a former ING executive, who declined to be identified.

The sale of ING's Asian assets is the most prominent private banking deal globally since the onset of the financial crisis.

ING's Asia private bank, which has assets under management of $15.8 billion, employs around 150 relationship managers. OCBC says it plans to eventually integrate the ING unit with its existing private bank's 50 relationship managers and $6.7 billion in assets.

FROM SCRATCH

Unlike many top Asian private bankers, who often start out in Hong Kong or Singapore serving the wealthy Chinese and Indian diaspora, de Guzman cut his teeth in the Philippines where he created ING's successful private banking business from scratch.

Now in his fifties, de Guzman joined ING in 1990 from BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) in Manila and was promoted to become head of ING's Asia-Pacific private banking arm in 2000. "Professionally, he did an extremely good job building up ING from really what was a little-known foreign bank then," said Deogracias Vistan, a retired banker and friend.

"He became regional head of the private banking business of ING, which is of course an acknowledgement of his achievements in the Philippines and his potential to transcend boundaries," added Vistan, a former president of the state-run United Coconut Planters Bank and the now-defunct Equitable PCI Bank.

De Guzman moves in the high circle of celebrities and top bankers in Manila, and he and his wife are often photographed in society magazines. Bankers say his access to wealthy Filipino families and celebrities is unparalleled.

The former ING executive, who described de Guzman as very friendly and approachable, said he regularly stepped up on stage to perform at company functions, demonstrating the passion for music shown by many of his countrymen.

De Guzman is also an avid golfer. He used to be a regular golfing partner of the late Rafael Buenaventura, a former governor of the central bank. He always lost to Buenaventura, ex-banker Vistan said.

"Every time a VIP from his office came to Manila when he was head of ING in the Philippines and I was governor, he always saw to it that the visitor got an appointment to see me. And every time I would tell his superiors that he was doing a good job," said Gabriel Singson, another former Philippine central bank governor. (Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar and Harry Suhartono; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)