Deutsche WM continues Asia hiring spree

Tham has been appointed head of wealth discretionary for emerging markets, replacing Tuan Huynh who was made Deutsche WM’s chief investment officer in Europe last March.

A fixed income specialist, Tham reports globally to Gregor Hirt, global head wealth discretionary, and locally to Lavanya Chari, global head of global products & solutions (GPS).

Christian Nolting, global chief investment officer and head of wealth discretionary, said in a press statement that Tham “will be central in further expanding our footprint in the region, helping us grow the important recurring fee part of our wealth management business”.

Previously, she was head of fixed income at Deutsche Bank’s DWS asset-management business in Singapore, where she also chaired the Asian fixed income portfolio construction committee.

Hiring activity

Her appointment is one of several recent Deutsche Bank hires since July 2019, when the troubled parent group stressed that its wealth management division “remains a pillar of Deutsche Bank’s strategy”, while announcing 18,000 job cuts elsewhere in the group.

The most significant development was the elevation in November of Claudio De Sanctis to become Deutsche WM’s global head, replacing Fabrizio Campelli. Sanctis had joined the firm a year earlier from Credit Suisse to head up wealth management in Europe.

Earlier this month, Deutsche WM poached Boris Kwok from Standard Chartered to become group head for North Asia, with a focus on China. Concurrently, 20 other front-facing wealth management professionals were hired as part of the firm’s plan to increase the number of relationship managers in North Asia by 40-50% in the next three years.

Late last year, it made several senior strategic hires to its global South Asia (GSA) team. Achal Aroura left Julius Baer to become Deutsche WM’s Dubai-based managing director and GSA group head, and former Credit Suisse head of investment management for India Mayank Khemka moved to the German firm as Mumbai-based head of discretionary portfolio management and chief investment officer for India.

In September, Jeffrey Yen Chieh Peng was poached from Bank of Singapore to head up China onshore wealth management business.