Financial

Deutsche Bank is hiring M&A bankers in Hong Kong & Singapore

27 April 2023

2 minute read

Deutsche Bank is hiring M&A bankers in Hong Kong & Singapore

Deutsche Bank has announced a strategic review of its workforce and is cutting 5% of non-client facing roles, but it’s bucking the cost-saving trend in its mergers and acquisitions business.

The bank’s CEO Christian Sewing the bank is investing across its M&A and capital markets businesses, and is looking to attract talent in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. “We continue to invest into our platforms, and to take opportunities created by current market conditions to attract talent to strengthen advisory capabilities in various businesses and regions, including Asia,” he said at the bank’s first quarter earnings on April 27.

Sewing didn’t go into detail about the plans, but Deutsche is among the banks that has been picking up talent from Credit Suisse following its acquisition by UBS.

This month, the bank hired Singapore-based Lim Zi-Kuan as co-head of M&A for Asia. Lim was previously Credit Suisse’s head of M&A for Southeast Asia and is the son of Lim Chin Siong, a Singaporean politician and a founder of the governing People’s Action Party.

Deutsche has also hired Rui Wang, a managing director at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, to work in its Greater China team.

Sewing said that any hires would be ‘selective’, but sources also said that Deutsche in the process of hiring junior bankers from Credit Suisse.

“There are many moves made by CS bankers into Deutsche and Jefferies, but too many to track at the moment,” said one Hong Kong-based headhunter.

Meanwhile, Deutsche could also be looking to beef up its management in the region after handing its CEO for APAC additional responsibilities. Alexander von zur Mühlen, who was appointed to the role in 2020, has expanded his remit to include Germany and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Von zur Mühlen will take on his new responsibilities in November and will have offices in both Frankfurt and Singapore. “It’s a much bigger remit and he could appoint someone underneath him to handle the day-to-day business,” said the headhunter.