Deutsche Bank announced its new Asia Pacific chief executive on Thursday, picking a veteran of one of the areas where the bank sees major growth potential — transaction banking.
The German bank has picked Werner Steinmuller, head of global transaction banking, as the new Asia Pacific chief executive, replacing Gunit Chadha, who is leaving the bank. Steinmuller has also been added to the management board — the first time an Asian-based banker will sit on Deutsche’s board.
The appointment comes after a major shake-up of Deutsche's organisational structure at the start of year, and shows the bank is not afraid to emphasise some of the more staid — and stable — sides of the business such as transaction banking.
But the move appears to make sense. Steinmuller, who will be based in Hong Kong, has long been an Asian bull, championing the region in discussions with his European colleagues, said a person at the bank. By taking a seat on the board, he can also push for more focus on the region.
That appears to be part of Deutsche’s plan. Chief executive John Cryan has implemented a dramatic restructuring at the bank called ‘Strategy 2020’. The move was aimed at making Deutsche simpler, safer, more efficient and better capitalised. But it has also made the bank more Asian-focused.
As part of the restructuring the bank announced plans to pull out of 10 countries, cut 9,000 full-time staff and shift its focus to clients that offer more revenues. But New Zealand was the only country in Asia Pacific that Deutsche pulled out of. Deutsche said it wanted to grow its transaction banking business in Asia — something Steinmuller can clearly help with — as well as keeping up the growth of its private wealth business in the region.
Steinmuller has worked at Deutsche Bank since 1991, and has been the head of global transaction banking since 2004. He will be replaced in that job by John Gibbons, a former JPMorgan banker who had two rather unwieldy titles: regional executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and global head of banks and broker dealers for treasury services.
Steinmuller’s official start date is, at this point, unclear — and is still subject to approval from Deutsche’s supervisory board — but executives at the German bank expect him to move to Hong Kong in the autumn.
Recent upheaval
While the franchise in Asia has continued to grow, with revenues up 14% last year compared with 2014, Deutsche Bank has seen a lot of change within its senior ranks in Asia over the past year. Recent high-profile departures include Chadha’s regional co-CEO Alan Cloete, co-head of corporate banking and securities for Asia Pacific Bhupinder Singh, and investment banking co-heads Douglas Morton and Venky Vishwanathan.
Recent appointments at Deutsche Bank include James McMurdo, who became head of corporate and investment banking for the Asia-Pacific region in November. He was previously chief executive officer for Australia and New Zealand.
McMurdo together with his new co-heads of corporate finance for Asia Pacific, Richard Gibb and Simon Roue, laid out a new management structure for the region in March. The ensuing reshuffle included the appointment of Jason Cox as Co-head of equity capital markets for Asia Pacific, together with Kefei Li.
Mayooran Elalingam continues as the region's head of mergers and acquisitions and Jake Gearhart remains as head of debt syndicate and origination.
In secondary markets, Deutsche Bank named Citigroup banker James Boyle as Asia-Pacific head of equities in April, replacing Rob Ebert.
