Deutsche Bank's former head in Switzerland now oversees the company's largest growth regions. However, Switzerland continues to play a significant role in his new position, as Marco Pagliara reveals in an interview with finews.asia. The end of Credit Suisse reshuffles the cards.

Marco Pagliara has been based in Singapore for about a year now, where he oversees three vastly different regions for Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank as head of emerging markets: Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, with more than 1,300 employees under his area. This makes him one of the key leaders in the team of Claudio de Sanctis, the German lender’s global head of private banking including wealth management.

Pagliara's move to Asia came as a surprise. The former McKinsey consultant had worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years before joining Deutsche Bank in 2019. He led the Europe, Middle East, and Africa private banking business from Zurich and served as country head for Switzerland.

Surprise Moves

This would have remained so if Jin Yee Young had not moved to UBS in Singapore. The long-time private banker from Credit Suisse (CS) joined Deutsche Bank at the end of 2023 amid the collapse of the Swiss bank but left unexpectedly only six months after reportedly receiving a very attractive offer from UBS. Consequently, Pagliara also found himself unexpectedly moving to Asia, as he explains in an interview with finews.asia.

The transition may be enormous, but the native Italian is aware that he has received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in his career. In his current role, he is responsible for the world's three most important growth markets for a global player like Deutsche Bank. They are regions where demand for customized financial solutions and comprehensive wealth management is particularly high as many families and entrepreneurs are based there. Amid seismic shifts in the financial industry, Pagliara sees unique opportunities to further develop the business in tomorrow's rapidly changing world.

Further Margin Compression

Several factors have driven further development in the wealth management industry. Since the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and related uncertainties, the desire for security among wealthy clients – especially in financial matters – has increased significantly, along with the willingness to handle many banking transactions digitally.

Although this has led to further margin compression, there is also the opportunity to serve clients more individually, especially given the interest rate inflection in financial markets. This, in turn, creates conditions to generate fee and commission income.

Massive Wave of Consolidation

As Pagliara further notes, a massive wave of consolidation is sweeping throughout the financial world as not all banks can meet the changing challenges, particularly in regulation. Deutsche Bank is focused on growing organically and has been hiring talent from the now-defunct Credit Suisse, particularly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Size is crucial in emerging markets like Asia and the Middle East where growth is also aggressively pursued by other global banks like UBS, J.P. Morgan or Chinese institutions.

The geopolitical changes, particularly between China and the US, also lead to wealthy families and institutions diversifying their assets across multiple banks with American institutions not necessarily being considered as the first choice anymore. This positions Deutsche Bank as a viable option, as Pagliara observes.

This view applies not only to Asia, where economic and political relations between China and the US are closely monitored but also to the Middle East, especially since the conflict between Israel and parts of the Arab world has been escalating.

Talents From Credit Suisse

In such an environment, Pagliara is striving for closer business relationships and, above all, synergies between the centers of Singapore and Dubai – currently the two fastest-growing financial hubs in the world. Deutsche Bank is present at both locations with a full range of services, particularly in investment banking as ultra-wealthy families have similar financial needs to institutional clients.

In the battle for talent, Deutsche Bank has made several notable moves in markets under Pagliara's oversight. It is considered one of the most aggressive poachers in the industry and has managed to attract some top talents from CS, notably new team additions of around 20 in the Middle East led by Head of Middle East Saad Osseiran, as reported by finews.asia.

New Mega-Sized Competitor

For Pagliara, the integration of CS into UBS not only creates a new mega-sized competitor but also reshuffles the cards in global wealth management. Many wealthy clients are reassessing their situation, for economic reasons, geopolitical risk or due to further consolidation in international banking.

These epochal changes do not make business easier, but they offer enormous opportunities for individual players to gain additional market share, as Pagliara explains.

Leading Global Eurozone Wealth Manager

Against this backdrop, Deutsche Bank remains focused on continued growth. In recent second-quarter earnings, Deutsche Bank, reported that private banking assets under management grew by a further 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) to 613 billion euros, making it the leading global Eurozone wealth manager.

In the quarter, the «Wealth Management & Private Banking» unit increased net revenues by 3 percent to 1 billion euros, with growth driven by investment products in Europe and emerging markets.