Release in early February of strong financial results for the German group seemed a good opportunity to ask one its senior private bankers about growth strategy, where the lender is focusing its activities, and more.

The fortunes and profile of emerging markets wax and wane, but now this immensely varied collection of nations appears to be a risk diversifier for investors rather than a way to add risk, so asset managers appear to say.

The private bank of Deutsche Bank is positive about growth, looking at areas including Latin America, as well as developing its business in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Marco Pagliara, head of emerging markets, told WealthBriefing in a recent meeting in the firm’s London offices. 

Like Asia, the growth markets in the Middle East, in particular the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are very promising, as is the case with the Latam market, he said. 

Deutsche has built a “good base of profitability,” he said, citing recent financial results. “Our wealth management model is now proven, and we are scaling it up. While we are the leading eurozone private bank and aspire to be Europe’s banking champion, we still have significant room for growth outside of Germany,” he said.

Pagliara said he is focusing on organic growth for the business and making a range of hires. 

This news service spoke to the firm a few days after Frankfurt-listed Deutsche Bank issued its full-year and fourth-quarter 2025 financial results. It logged a fourth-quarter 2025 pre-tax profit of €2.027 billion ($2.38 billion), surging from €583 million a year earlier. On an attributable basis, the figure was €1.298 billion, soaring from €106 million. In 2025, the private bank made a pre-tax profit of €2.3 billion, rising 95 per cent on a year before. It appears that the lender has financial firepower to build the kind of growth Pagliara talked about.

An important strategic consideration is where banks book business and deploy talent to obtain the right mix of revenue growth and manageable regulatory compliance.

WealthBriefing asked Pagliara how and where he considers locating booking centres. He is drawn to the idea of connections between hubs, as akin to “corridors” of trade and people (a subject we wrote about late last year).

“Clients from different regions have definite preferences for where they source advice and where they establish custody,” he said, and this can explain the different client preferences with regards to how they engage with banks in different financial centres. 

Dubai is an opportunity for Deutsche Bank, he said. “This is an obvious place for Non-Resident Indians and Gulf clients. Most international banks have limited capabilities while Deutsche Bank has a strong, well-established and growing line-up of advisory,” he said.

Intermediaries approach

This publication asked Deutsche Bank how it has changed its approach to handling intermediaries such as external asset managers (EAMs) and family offices in recent years. (See an interview this news service conducted last year with the bank about its Asian EAM operations.)

Today, it focuses on the largest of such organisations. Deutsche Bank goes after EAM partners who are in the top tier of this segment of the wealth management market. The bank sees EAMs as integral to its institutional offering for the UHNW segment, enabling the bank to reach beyond the clientele that it serves directly.

“For years we treated EAMs like private clients. In Asia, it was relatively significant in terms of client activity. It made sense to centralise it,” he said.

Having a centralised, efficient controls system in place makes it easier for banks to manage risks.  

He was asked about the tough compliance regime in Singapore, and concerns from the industry about long onboarding times.

“Compliance standards are strong in Singapore and have been further uplifted in recent years,” he said, referring to KYC and other tests. “In that context, Deutsche Bank anticipated and prepared for the tighter control environment.”