Clariden Leu poaches three from Deutsche private banking

Swiss private bank Clariden Leu has poached Soon Gek Chew, Janice Lee and Chin Lit Yee from Deutsche Bank in Singapore to strengthen its Asia team.

Chew will head portfolio management and investment strategy for Asia. She will be in charge of a regional investment team and manage Clariden Leu's funds in Asia. For the past two years Chew has been chief investment officer for Deutsche Bank. She joined Deutsche in July 2007 from ING private bank in Asia where she was also CIO. Chew has also worked with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and DBS Asset Management.

Lee will be chief credit officer for Asia, responsible for managing the credit risk function in the region. As part of her job she will provide advice to Clariden Leu's private bankers as well as its clients. She will also manage the bank's credit portfolio. Before joining Deutsche, Lee worked with UBS and Citi.

Yee has been hired to head private banking for Southeast Asia and will be responsible for expanding Clariden Leu's franchise in that region. Yee will also work on implementing Clariden Leu's overall strategy for Asia, along with Jimmy Lee who is head of Asia. At Deutsche Yee was the group manager for Southeast Asia. Yee has also worked at Credit Suisse, Coutts and J.P. Morgan.

Clariden Leu has hired some of its senior bench in Asia from Deutsche private banking so it is no surprise that the three hires announced yesterday also join from the German bank. In March, Clariden Leu hired Jimmy Lee from Deutsche where he had spent almost five years as head of private wealth management for Southeast Asia and South Asia, in charge of a team of more than 150 employees. And last month the Zurich-based private bank appointed Kenneth Toong as its first chairman for Asia. Toong was earlier head of North Asia for Deutsche private wealth management.

Erich Pfister, who heads the Middle East and Asia division for Clariden Leu, said at a media briefing in June that more than half of the private bank's international staff is based in Asia, indicating which region it expects future growth to come from.

"The recruitment of these top-performers underpins Clariden Leu's commitment to the Asian market as an integral part of the bank's growth strategy," Pfister said yesterday in a written statement, commenting on the three new hires.