European bank's wealth wing brings in former ING private-banking executive. Chew Soon Gek, formerly ING Private Bank Singapore CIO, has signed on as CIO of Deutsche Bank's Asian private-client business. She reports to Klaus Martini, head of private-client investments within Deutsche's Private Wealth Management (PWM) division and to Ravi Raju, head of the Frankfurt-based bank's wealth-management unit in Asia.

Hot spot

"Soon Gek is a strategic hire for Deutsche Bank's Private Wealth Management's business in Asia and her role will ensure that we continue to deliver focused macro views and research advice to clients in this region," says Raju, who is based in Singapore. "As a senior staffer with professional money-management experience, she will be an extremely valuable addition to the PWM franchise as we continue to strengthen our presence in Asia, a significant strategic region for [Deutsche's] business globally.

Singapore-based Chew oversees the management of client portfolios across Asia. Her team also provides "macro" investment views to help clients select investment strategies and portfolios to match their needs.

In April 2007, Deutsche hired 18 wealth-management professionals away from Citigroup in Singapore. Private-client firms have been squabbling over talent in Asia for the past several years, but competition in Singapore is especially fierce.

Frankfurt-based Deutsche PWM has 80 offices in 30 countries. -FWR

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