Deutsche Bank has appointed Citigroup banker James Boyle as Asia-Pacific head of equities, replacing Rob Ebert.
Boyle, Citigroup’s global head of equity derivatives and head of equity trading pan-Asia, will join Deutsche Bank in July, according to a source familiar with the situation. He will also hold the title of co-head of global equity derivatives with Brad Kurtzman.
At the same time, Ebert is set to leave after 20 years at the German investment bank, starting off as head of Asian sales trading in 1996.
Ebert has since served in multiple senior positions across different jurisdictions, including head of programme trading sales in Europe, head of global execution in the US as well as head of equity production distribution in Asia.
He was named Asia-Pacific head of equities in May last year, replacing Dixit Joshi who moved to London as global head of prime finance.
“Ebert has been a valued colleague for over 20 years and recently advised us of his personal decision to leave the bank,” said Michael Ormaechea, Deutsche Bank’s head of global markets for APAC.
Shortly after the promotion he was involved in a car crash in Hong Kong in July that caused the death of a security guard.
Shift in strategy
Equity sales and trading has been one of the key revenue streams for Deutsche Bank. Last year, revenue from the business reached €3.1 billion ($3.5 billion) globally.
John Cryan, Deutsche Bank's new chief executive who assumed office in June last year, said the bank will be hiring more people in equity sales, trading and research.
As such, the departure of Ebert is a blow to the German bank because he has a strong background in sales, trading and product distribution. By contrast his successor Boyle has served in less client-facing roles during his investment banking career.
But Boyle has extensive experience in running cash equities and derivatives businesses, having established Citadel Securities' equity business across cash, derivatives and electronics in the US between 2009 and 2010. That could be beneficial to the bank from a management perspective.
Before joining Citadel, he spent 13 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and held senior positions including head of global equity-linked trading and head of delta one trading.
Boyle's appointment at Deutsche Bank follows a number of senior appointments made last month. They include the appointments of Jason Cox and Kefei Li as co-heads of Asia Pacific ECM, as well as Oliver Brinkmann as head of corporate finance for north Asia and Sreenivasan Iyer for Southeast Asia.
