Standard Chartered intends to hire about 850 relationship managers for its consumer banking business over the next 18 months, to gain a larger market share of affluent customers in Asia.

Among recent trends, the issues that have done well recently have been consumer-driven — taking advantage of Asia's increasingly affluent population — or have been market leaders.

Chile is a popular test market for apps in Latin America: it is small and relatively affluent, and speaks Spanish, another world language.