The German bank's plan to boost its wealth management headcount by 300 in the next few years takes shape with a number of hires in Asia and the Middle East, among other regions.

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, which is ramping up hires across the world, announced that it has made several "senior strategic hires" in its global South Asia (GSA) team, including a new managing director in Mumbai and another in Dubai in the past month. It has also completed a lateral move for an MD in Singapore.

The new hires add to 21 new relationship and investment managers who have joined the GSA teams in Dubai, India, Singapore and London this year, with a further four to join in 2020, the Frankfurt-based firm, Deutsche Bank said in a statement yesterday.

Achal Aroura joined in October as an MD0 and group head based in Dubai. Aroura has worked in the financial industry for over 20 years, working primarily in the UAE and India. He was previously a senior client advisor and group head Middle East and Africa for the non-resident Indian business at Julius Baer. In his new role, Aroura reports to Amrit Singh, head of wealth management for GSA.

For onshore India, the firm has hired Mayank Khemka as head of discretionary portfolio management and chief investment officer for wealth management in India, with effect from 22 November. Based in Mumbai, Khemka will report to Atinkumar Saha, head of WM India, and Christian Nolting, global head of DPM and WM CIO. He has over 25 years of experience in Indian capital markets, having joined from Credit Suisse where he spent nine years as head of investment management, India, managing discretionary portfolios across asset classes.

As part of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management’s efforts to create a seamless investment management proposition for all clients across all GSA locations, the bank has also appointed Akshay Prasad as head of investment management for GSA, moving from his original role as head of capital markets for emerging markets. Still based in Singapore, Prasad will report to Amrit Singh and Bobby Abraham, regional head of Institutional wealth partners (IWP) in emerging markets, and will oversee all of the team’s investment managers and FX advisors. His new role will be effective from 1 January 2020.

The new hires and moves will expand the coverage of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management’s established advice, product and solution capabilities to a wider clientele. This will strengthen the GSA business in this growing market segment and complement the ongoing hiring of relationship and investment managers and support function staff.

The bank's wealth arm plans to hire 300 relationship managers and investment managers globally by 2021, with its emerging markets region, which includes Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, identified as an attractive area of growth. The recent hires bring the total number of client-facing bankers in the GSA team to more than 80, of which a quarter are based in India.

Amrit Singh, head of wealth management GSA, said: "The hires reflect Deutsche Bank Wealth Management’s ongoing commitment to invest in people, technology, advisory and investment solutions. They underscore our ambition to grow our client franchise in one of the world’s fastest growing regions where wealth creation and entrepreneurial activity are enjoying strong tailwinds.”