Gunit Chadha is to leave Deutsche Bank, becoming the German bank's latest senior departure in Asia.
In a move effective July 17, Chadha has quit as Deutsche Bank's Asia-Pacific chief executive, an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia on Tuesday shows.
The memo, signed by the bank's global co-CEO John Cryan, said Deutsche Bank would announce Chadha’s successor in due course.
Separately, one person familiar with the situation told FinanceAsia that Jürgen Fitschen, Deutsche Bank's former global co-CEO, will take up some of the slack created by Chadha’s departure until a replacement is named.
Fitschen has worked at Deutsche Bank since 1987 in a number of roles. For more than a decade, based in Bangkok, Tokyo and Singapore, he helped to build the bank’s Asian business.
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.
That mirrors some of the upheaval seen at a global level after Cryan took up his role at Deutsche Bank in July 2015, replacing Fitschen's former co-CEO Anshu Jain. Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin sharply criticised the bank over allegations it manipulated interbank offered rates, mis-sold derivatives, and rigged precious metal markets but then closed its investigations in February citing action already taken at the firm. Jain was cleared of wrongdoing.
New line up
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.
India banker
One of the highest profile bankers in India, Chadha joined Deutsche Bank as CEO for India in 2003 from quasi-government bank IDBI Bank, where he had been CEO since 2000.
After nine years running Deutsche Bank’s business in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Chadha moved to Singapore to become co-CEO of Deutsche Bank’s Asia-Pacific operations.
Chadha, 54, learnt his trade at Citigroup, joining the bank in 1984. He held a variety of senior position within Citi before joining IDBI. These included running the India financial institutions and transaction services team, running the India investment banking team, investment banking head for South Asia, and a stint in New York running Citi's structured finance products for US corporates.
In 2012 Chadha was appointed Co-CEO for Asia Pacific and sole CEO in 2015 after Cloete left the bank in July last year.
Five of the top-10 countries by income before before interest and taxes for Deutsche Bank were in the Asia-Pacific region in 2015. The bank's Asia Pacific franchise comprises 16 countries.
