Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday it had hired Frank Fang as head of corporate banking for China, filling a post vacated by Anthony Lin, who left to join Bank of America in October.
A 25-year veteran of HSBC, Fang joins the German bank in late June. In the new role, he will lead an onshore and offshore team covering corporate banking for China, as well as overseeing onshore branches across the country. A bank spokesperson declined to elaborate on the size of Fang’s team when contacted by FinanceAsia.
Based in Shanghai, Fang will report regionally to Oliver Brinkman, head of corporate finance for North Asia, and Sanjiv Vohra, head of Asia-Pacific corporate banking coverage. Locally, he reports to Feng Gao, chief country officer of Deutsche Bank China.
“China remains a critical component of Deutsche Bank’s global corporate banking coverage network, and an increasingly significant driver of our regional and global business,” Vohra said in a press release.
As of end 2015, the bank had issued loans worth €5.65 billion ($6.4 billion) in China, accounting for 1.3% of its total loans issued globally, according its annual report. It recorded €277 million in net revenues from the country last year, or 0.8% of its total net income. The net income of its global corporate banking and securities business reached €10.6 billion, up 11% from €9.5 billion a year earlier.
During his 25-year stint at HSBC, Fang worked in various product and client coverage roles. Most recently, he was the head of corporate banking for China at the British bank.
Lin left to join Bank of America as president for China last October after holding the position at Deutsche Bank for less than two years, Lin’s LinkedIn page showed.
China coverage
Deutsche Bank first established a foothold in China in 1872 when it opened its first overseas office in Shanghai. The Frankfurt-headquartered bank now runs operations and employs more than 500 staff in six cities across mainland China and over 1,200 in Hong Kong.
In July 2009, Beijng-based Zhong De Securities, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank and local brokerage house Shanxi Securities, received a business license from the Chinese securities regulator.
The approval has since enabled it to underwrite and sponsor equity issues, government and corporate bonds as well as providing corporate advisory services on the onshore market. Deutsche Bank holds a 33.3% stake in the JV while its Chinese partner owns the remaining 66.7%.
According to data provider Dealogic, the German bank outperformed its Western counterparts in terms of core investment banking revenues on the mainland last year.
The income generated from its onshore ECM, DCM and China-related M&A businesses reached $116 million in 2015, ahead of Citi, UBS and Morgan Stanley, but still way behind big domestic brokers including Citic Securities and Guotai Junan Securities, the data shows.
Deutsche Bank was also the only international player ranked by Dealogic in the top 10 A-share ECM bookrunners so far this year, with its deal volume reaching $2.3 billion. Meanwhile, its market share has also increased from 3.2% last year to 4% so far this year.
Apart from its investment banking presence in China, the bank also holds a 30% stake in Beijing-based Harvest Asset Management and has shown interest in retail banking in the country.
In 2006, Deutsche Bank made its first equity investment in Hua Xia Bank, a Shanghai-listed nationwide commercial lender. It upped its stake from 9.9% to 19.99% in 2008.
In last December, Deutsche Bank said it had agreed to sell its entire 19.99% stake to Chinese state-controlled inure PICC, at a time of more onerous capital rules on holding minority stakes in financial institutions and in the wake of a corruption scandal at the Chinese bank.
