[SINGAPORE] Deutsche Bank is looking to hire experienced relationship managers and entire teams with established client books, as its private bank seeks to capture a larger share of Asia’s high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth market.
The German lender is particularly interested in bankers who can serve sophisticated clients and family offices, rather than simply adding headcount, said Marco Pagliara, head of emerging markets at Deutsche Bank Private Bank.
“It’s not just about the quantity of growth; it’s also the quality of growth,” he told The Business Times in a recent interview.
The bank is looking at a double-digit number of additions in relationship managers and coverage staff for the markets he oversees.
It is also hiring investment specialists and product staff, including those focused on alternative investments such as private equity and hedge funds.
The bulk of its Asian private banking resources are based in Singapore and Hong Kong, with hiring taking place in both financial centres.
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The recruitment push comes as the private bank targets double-digit growth in key measures of the business.
“My plan and my budgets are always (in) double digits,” he said.
Pagliara said this applies to areas including revenue and net new assets. The markets under his remit are also receiving a relatively larger allocation of hiring resources compared with other parts of the bank, given their growth prospects.
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Deutsche Bank’s private banking franchise has around 850 billion euros (US$985 billion) in assets under management globally, and is aiming to cross the one trillion-euro mark by 2028.
He sees the markets under his remit – including Asia and the Middle East, and eventually Latin America – as important engines of that expansion.
Deutsche Bank did not disclose the size of its Asian private banking business. But Pagliara said it is not among the top one or two players in the markets it serves in the region, leaving room to capture more wallet share.
Singapore a key global hub
Singapore is set to play a central role in that push.
Pagliara described the city-state as one of Deutsche Bank’s largest wealth-booking centres outside Germany, and not just within Asia.
The platform serves clients from the region, including South-east Asia and North Asia, as well as part of the bank’s global non-resident Indian business. Some businesses originating from the Middle East and Africa are also booked in Singapore, he said.
Within South-east Asia, Deutsche Bank has further room to expand. It has historically been strong in Indonesia, while Malaysia is among the markets where it anticipates opportunities to increase its penetration.
Singapore itself is also an important market, including among wealthy locals and family offices based here.
He added that demand for private banking services is not holding back the bank’s expansion.
Rather, Deutsche Bank is seeking bankers suited to its focus on larger and more complex clients, whose needs can extend beyond conventional wealth-management products.
That focus also shapes the way the lender is trying to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive Asian wealth market.
Many wealthy clients in South-east Asia are entrepreneurs whose families have accumulated significant personal wealth, while continuing to control conglomerates, holding companies or other operating businesses, Pagliara noted.
Their needs can therefore stretch from investment management to structured lending, foreign exchange hedging, capital raising and corporate finance advice.
Deutsche Bank is seeking to tap its corporate bank, investment bank and global markets businesses alongside its private bank to serve such clients.
“They are interested in money management services, but often they are also interested in the ways that you can be accretive or helpful with respect to their corporate activity,” he said.
Its financing capabilities are an important part of that proposition, he added. “A lot of that deal flow actually comes on the financing side.”
Pagliara indicated Deutsche Bank’s ability to provide balance-sheet financing, as well as connect wealthy clients with other parts of the group for services such as capital raising, listings and foreign exchange hedging.
The lender has also built a dedicated family office franchise in Singapore over the past two to three years.
He said the city-state remains attractive to wealthy families because of factors including its stability, legal framework and certainty of rules.
“I think the environment is friendly and stable, and so that provides an attraction from that perspective,” he noted.
Deutsche Bank ultimately wants to become “larger and more relevant” in the region, Pagliara said.
“Emerging markets and growth markets are… the part that will be the engine for growth of that business,” he added.
