Lok Yim: «I Have Never Worked So Hard»

Deutsche Bank's most unexpected leader withstood a trial by fire when the German bank was roiled by turbulence in Asia. Lok Yim, head of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, speaks exclusively to finews.asia. 

By Shruti Advani, Guest Contributor finews.asia

To say Lok Yim, Deutsche Bank’s head of wealth management in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, was thrown into the role in the fall of 2016 at the bank’s darkest hour would be no understatement.

On the global front, the bank’s shares were trading at an all-time low as problems piled up: an unprecedented $14 billion fine in the U.S. for the sale of toxic mortgage bonds in the run-up to the global financial crisis. Then-CEO John Cryan’s unpopularity within the ranks was said to be the trigger for a string of high-profile departures, most notably amongst the heads of its wealth business across several regions. 

Closer to home, its Asia head of wealth – industry stalwart Ravi Raju – had abruptly resigned taking with him its global head of key clients, Anurag Mahesh. Fighting on several fronts at the same time, the bank seemed unnerved.

Short Nights

Yim was immediately introduced as the new head of Asia, but skeptics appeared unconvinced and a finews.asia article from the time refers to him as «a stand-in for Ravi Raju».

«I have never worked this hard in my life,» Yim told finews.asia recently, almost two years to the date he took the helm. And he certainly had his work cut out for him. A «Reuters» article of that time has Yim insisting that wealth management outflows in Asia «were not significant».

«From the 10th of October 2016 to March of 2017, when everyone had written Deutsche Bank off, I met as many colleagues and clients as I could, averaging four hours of sleep a day,» he says.

Keeping People

In 2016, the bank was left with a little over $47 billion in assets after the outflows had been accounted for, with little assurance that the bleeding would be stemmed. At the time of this interview, wealth management assets in Asia had just shot north of $60 billion.

Does Yim feel vindicated, or even smug? «Pride goeth before a fall,» he cautions, a mantra he has put up on his office wall. «I try not to be arrogant about this but I am very grateful that things worked out,» Yim says.