SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Standard Chartered PLC (>> Standard Chartered PLC), DBS Group Holdings Ltd (>> DBS Group Holdings Ltd) and HSBC PLC (>> HSBC Holdings plc) have submitted first round bids for Societe Generale's (>> SOCIETE GENERALE) Asian private bank valued at $600 million, people involved in the sale told Reuters.

SocGen, France's second-largest bank by market capitalisation, is selling the unit as part of wider restructuring to cut costs and boost profits, Reuters previously reported. Its 15-year foothold in Asia makes it an attractive buy, sources said.

Credit Suisse (>> Credit Suisse Group AG) and at least one U.S. financial institution are among 10 firms placing preliminary bids for the unit that manages about $13 billion worth of assets, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details are not public.

SocGen is the third major global financial institution to seek the sale of its Asian wealth arm in the last five years after Bank of America Corp (>> Bank of America Corp) and ING Groep (>> ING GROEP). Rapid growth in the lower end of the wealth market - serving people with at least $1 million to invest - favours private banks with wider networks, pressuring smaller players who tend to target only the very rich.

SocGen's private banking unit is small compared with those of larger competitors in Asia's wealth management market such as Citigroup Ltd (>> Citigroup Inc) and UBS AG (>> UBS AG), which each manage $200 billion in assets.

Some bids will not be more than $300 million, the people said, showing the gap in price sought by seller and suitors.

The French bank is restructuring its asset-gathering operations after recently combining them with its corporate and investment bank under Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Didier Valet.

Earlier this year, it sold its Japanese private bank to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (>> Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.) for an undisclosed sum.

JPMorgan (>> JPMorgan Chase & Co) is advising SocGen, the people said.

Spokespeople for SocGen and JPMorgan declined to comment. Officials at DBS, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Standard Chartered also declined to comment.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Denny Thomas; Additional reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Christopher Cushing)