Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, plans to double the assets it manages for wealthy Indians living overseas to $10 billion in three years and will hire more bankers in Asia to capture the growing market.
The Frankfurt-based bank, which currently employs more than 60 people to serve this market, will boost staff by at least 50 per cent, said Salman Mahdi, who runs global private wealth management for South Asia from London. The bulk of the hiring will be in Singapore and Hong Kong, with the remainder in London, Geneva and Dubai.
There’s an estimated 25 million to 30 million people of Indian origin living overseas, with as much as $70 billion to invest, Mahdi said. Deutsche Bank’s asset and wealth management business reported net new money of 12 billion euros ($16.4 billion) in the fourth quarter, compared with outflows of 23 billion euros a year ago.
“The South Asian story keeps getting updated because the phenomenon is getting bigger and bigger,” said Mahdi in an interview on March 2. “The scale at which the new generation is thinking of doing business is several multiples of what their forefathers were doing.” Mahdi, who started the team seven years ago, said he prefers to hire senior bankers with at least 10 years experience.
Competition for talent is “very much on” in Asia with teams of people as well as individuals being hired, he said. Barclays Plc’s wealth management unit last month hired three bankers from UBS AG for its South Asia team in Singapore, adding to the 10 who were recruited in August last year. Mahdi, who’s aiming to lure clients who can invest $50 million or more in liquid strategies, said continuity is becoming more important for both clients and bankers.
“It’s difficult to quantify what would attract a person to move, but one thing that does attract people is knowing they will be supported and looked after for a period of time,” he said. “Just bidding up somebody’s compensation is no guarantee of long-term success. People want safe havens to work in. They want to know they will be given the time to build the business.”
