With the launch of Primus Financial, former Salomon and Citigroup veterans Bob Morse, Huan Guocang and Wing-Fai Ng are hoping to build a "multi-billion global financial services firm based in Asia". They plan to use their $1 billion of start-up capital – all from a single wealthy family in Asia – to move into banking, insurance and asset management, with a focus on providing services to corporations and rich individuals. They have pedigree in the region: Morse was for 25 years a chief executive of Citi Asia, Ng was a managing director at Taiwan’s Fubon Financial responsible for the group’s overall strategy and acquisitions, and Huan was head of investment banking Asia-Pacific at HSBC from 2001 to 2005 before founding the private equity fund that was the precursor of his present venture. The plan is hugely ambitious: the trio aim to create a region-wide financial services platform through strategic acquisitions and selective hiring, beginning with the purchase of a banking platform.