Lok Yim: «Targeting $88 Billion in Assets under Management»

Using Balance Sheet 

Growth amongst Asia’s wealthy is largely a matter of deploying balance sheet, is the German lender in a position to lend the big bucks required in Asia?

«The balance sheet has been scaled back for corporate finance but has been redeployed elsewhere - for wealth management, for example. So there is no issue deploying balance sheet to wealth management, in fact we want to allocate more balance sheet to wealth management because it gives a higher return on equity than the other businesses.»

He is tactful on Deutsche's investment and corporate bank fighting wealth management for resources, rather than supporting it: «We are having a record year in the number of transactions wealth management has done with global credit trading, so the wealth management – corporate and investment bank connect is stronger than it has ever been.»

Organic Growth

On the sale of the U.S. business he is categorical, «No. In fact, we are hiring very aggressively in the U.S.» Although much smaller, the onshore India business has been the subject of much speculation as well. Given Deutsche Bank’s traditional strength in both the resident and non-resident Indian business, the prospect of a sale would elicit great interest.

«There is a lot of speculation that our India business is being sold but that is not true. Indeed we have got new headcount for that business [Aditya Mishra from Credit Suisse joined the bank’s NRI team earlier in the month], so we are definitely committed to growing there.»

Again, Yim believes the growth will be organic. «Valuations are very high in India,» he says.

Biggest Lesson 

Optimistic, assured – Yim’s confidence seems contagious: sources at the bank claim esprit de corps is high. But those who forget the past are often condemned to repeat it.

The lesson is not lost on Yim, and he is able to clearly articulate what he believes went so wrong for the bank at its nadir. «We needed a much faster decision process,» he says. «A lot of the things we did were not a surprise to the market but what we needed to do was do it faster and deliver to the market. The learning has been to do what you said you were going to do and do it quickly.»

 Click here to read the first installment of finews.asia's exclusive interview with Deutsche Bank head Lok Yim.