During a recent visit to Zurich, this news service's editor sat down with a senior figure at Deutsche Bank to ask about its approach to the Latin American market segment.

It might seem surprising at first glance, but there is a decidedly Latin American strain in private banking in Switzerland these days. While not a new phenomenon for those close to the scene, the needs of HNW individuals in countries such as Brazil, Chile and Mexico are often being met by those who ply a financial trade in Zurich and Geneva.

There is a logic to this pattern. While secrecy no longer covers cross-border clients using Swiss accounts (it does for domestic Swiss citizens), the country’s famed reputation for bank privacy is a draw for those used to living in countries with slack governance and worries about physical security. There is the safety and security of the Alpine state, allied to centuries of banking savvy. And add in a desire by HNW clients to seek an alternative to bank options in the US, it’s easy to see a pattern emerging. 

At Deutsche Bank – Germany’s largest bank – the attractions of serving LatAm clients via teams in Switzerland are clear (such bankers are also able and willing to clock up air miles to visit clients on the ground). And the Latin American client story is all of a piece of an emerging market agenda that comes under the purview of Arlene Schuchard Steffen (main picture), who is head of Latin America Wealth Management, based in Zurich. WealthBriefing recently spoke to her during a trip to Zurich.

Frankfurt-listed Deutsche Bank serves clients in Brazil, Mexico, the Central Andean and Southern Cone Region – comprising the Central Andean nations of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. The bank’s model serves clients via its offshore centres in Switzerland and the US, while bankers visit clients on the ground, she said. 

“More and more, Latin American clients are spending time in Europe. This is a good opportunity for a German bank – an additional option for a LatAm family client that has business in Europe. We are seeing more of the NextGen. In the past, they went to the US and now they are coming more to Europe. We can cover them in the US and Europe and can be agnostic [about] where they are booked – it’s really what makes sense for the client,” Schuchard Steffen said.

To illustrate trends, Paulo Corchaki was appointed head of Brazil for the private bank, effective 1 November last year. Corchaki previously served as CEO of UBS Wealth Management, Brazil. In 2017, he founded Trafalgar Investimentos, which was acquired by Monte Bravo/XP last year. Earlier in his career, he served in CIO roles at Itaú Bank and HSBC Brazil. 

Deutsche operates 13 wealth management booking centres, of which Zurich, Geneva, Miami and New York serve Latam clients. 

The focus on Latin American clients is not peculiar to Deutsche Bank. In July last year, Julius Baer, for example, named a former Citi Private Bank senior figure, Antonia Murga, as its new market head for Latin America. She is based in Geneva and brought a team with her from the US bank. UBS has a Latin American business – taking on some clients via the Credit Suisse emergency takeover of 2023. And, of course, there is a Brazil connection to the Bank J Safra Sarasin business, after the Brazil-Swiss Safra Group bought Switzerland’s Sarasin from Rabobank in 2011. 

It was hard for this news service to ignore a Latin America-Europe nexus this week at the annual asset management conference in Luxembourg organised by ALFI, the funds industry association, aka Association Luxembourgeoise des Fonds d'Investissement. Among those attending (along with your correspondent) were managers from Chile, talking about the opportunities for Chilean investors to tap into Luxembourg’s UCITS funds industry. (A decade ago, a similar narrative happened when Brazil loosened cross-border investment rules, opening the way for international options.)

The cross-border dimension is important for this part of Deutsche Bank’s business. As well as serving clients remotely via Switzerland, bankers must be willing and able to travel frequently. 

“Because we are a small but agile team, we need to be extremely savvy and focused about how we cover these countries and understand the complex cross-border needs of clients,” Schuchard Steffen said. 
 

Experience

Her experience comes from having worked for almost eight years at Credit Suisse in Zurich after being partner at Finad (MFO) and spending more than 12 years at UBS between Zurich, New York and San Francisco. She joined Deutsche Bank in 2023. 

The German bank has emerging markets in its sights. As reported here, 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. 

Schuchard Steffen said the bank is in growth mode.

“We want to grow organically and by hiring new talent, focusing on UHNW clients. We see that [segment] as one where our institutional platform offers more value,” she said. “We are growing and we are hiring – it is a good growth story.”

Overall results for the bank have been positive, giving it confidence to spend strategically where it considers the results to be worth the effort. In its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 financial results, Deutsche Bank said 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.

One big bank

This is a bank that is keen to stress the benefits of having investment, corporate and private banking under one roof – a sort of “one bank” model that is not always in fashion. 

There are close links with the investment banking side of Deutsche Bank, Schuchard Steffen said, tapping the “holistic” needs for clients in gaining access to finance for their companies, and not just because they need to manage private wealth. A big area for Deutsche is also multi-generational families and the needs that such families have. 

“We are trying to be as close to our clients [as possible] to help them navigate all this turmoil,” Schuchard Steffen said. 

A part of this approach, [the bank] has been building a tailor-made approach to risk that clients appreciate, she said. The bank’s proprietary Risk Return Engineering solution, developed initially for German clients, is being rolled out across the bank to help private clients manage risk. This is obviously a highly relevant topic now amidst geopolitical turmoil and conflict.

“For clients who have implemented it, it gives peace of mind,” Schuchard Steffen said. 

“For our clients it is important to have a trusted advisor to help them navigate these times and we believe diversification is important," she said. 

“We are focused on the sophisticated needs of UHNW individuals because this is where we can add the most value for our clients, leveraging our institutional banking platform in capital markets, bespoke structuring, and financing luxury assets,” she said. (See more about the bank's approach to serving clients here.)

Schuchard Steffen reiterated the bank’s focus on structured lending solutions, noting how much of this is led by Adam Russ, who joined Deutsche in 2021 from Goldman Sachs, who is now head of business and wealth management lending at Deutsche Bank Private Bank.

With lending solutions, AI might make some of the process easier “but you need a person who can talk about this and explain,” she added.