Aleksandar Pfajfer was appointed as Hong Kong-based managing director and Asia-Pacific head of lending and deposits, according to a statement from the firm. He assumed his role on 22 January and reports to Balaji Prasanna, global head of lending and deposits, and Lok Yim, Asia-Pacific head.
In addition, the bank named Tony Tan as Singapore-based director and head of strategic lending for Asia, reporting to Mitch Matharu, global head of strategic lending. Tan was also appointed as head of lending for Southeast Asia and South Asia, reporting to Pjajfer. He assumed both roles on 26 December.
Before joining DBWM, Pfajfer was Credit Suisse’s head of private banking structured lending for Asia. He has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and has worked in London, Zurich, New York and Hong Kong, according to the statement.
Tan was previously from Nomura Investment Banking, where he ran the firm’s principal finance group in Asia, including Australia.
NRI hires
DBWM also hired three Singapore-based relationship managers dedicated to cover non-resident Indian (NRI) clients in a move to strengthen its South Asia business, according to an earlier statement.
The three relationship managers, who were also appointed as managing directors, are Rasik Ahuja, Sagar Sapra and Swapnil Mishra.
Both Ahuja and Sapra joined the bank this month and Mishra joined in December.
Ahuja was previously UBP’s desk head for NRI and South Asia since 2014, while Sapra was a principal director at Standard Chartered Bank. Mishra was BSI Bank’s deputy head of global South Asia (GSA) business for eight years.
“Deutsche Bank WM continues to see very strong business momentum in the NRI segment,” Amrit Singh, head of wealth management coverage for GSA, said in the statement.
Singh added that the bank will be adding 10 more people to the team in Singapore and Dubai during the first quarter.
DBWM relocated Singh to Singapore from London in September last year in a move to support the business growth plan in Asia, the statement noted.
Besides DBWM, Indosuez Wealth Management also strengthened its NRI division with the appointments of Vignesh Ravindran and Akhila Narayanan in October.
DBWM’s new hires follow the appointment of six relationship managers in December, which represent an addition to the wealth manager’s team of around 200 RMs in Asia-Pacific. The bank also hired late last year Wee Teck Tay as head of private markets for Asia-Pacific and John Lilley as director for APAC fund solutions specialists to strengthen the bank’s product platform.
