Deutsche Bank has appointed a stand-in for Ravi Raju, the head of its Asian business who defected to rival UBS and took a key banker with him.

Deutsche's Ravi Raju has engendered fierce loyalty among his staff in Asia in his nine years at Deutsche. His departure yesterday for Swiss rival UBS has already caused ructions: head of key client partners Anurag Mahesh is also leaving Deutsche.

Lok Yim has taken over as the head of Deutsche's wealth management activities in Asia, effective immediately, the German lender said in a statement to finews.asia on Tuesday. The temporary replacement will be tasked with preventing an exodus of talented private bankers for the Swiss rival.

Threat to Business

Yim has been head of Deutsche's private bank in North Asia since 2009 and, like Raju, is based in Hong Kong. He spent 11 years at Citigroup in both private banking and investment banking prior to joining the German bank. 

The tone of Deutsche's statement makes clear that it sees Raju's departure as a threat to its business. The bank said it has a «strong bench of senior managers» to take over Deutsche's next phase.

Affirms Asia Plans

Unusually, it also affirmed its commitment to Asian private banking, probably to pre-empt speculation that the unit could be sold as part of overall Chief Executive John Cryan's capital drive which has reportedly led the bank to flip-flop on keeping its asset management unit.

«Our strategy for Deutsche Bank wealth management in the Asia Pacific region remains unchanged. Asia Pacific continues to be one of the cornerstones of our global investment plans and will only strengthen in importance over time,» the bank said in a statement.

Asia figures prominently in Deutsche's plans to bolster more stable and lucrative money-management operations, as it dramatically scales back its once-powerful investment bank.

High-Net Worth Clients

Deutsche is targeting the high-end of private clients, in a bid to parlay investment banking deals into wealth management business.

«In particular, our capital markets expertise is increasingly becoming the backbone of our growing, high net worth proposition, starting with North Asia and with a focus on Hong Kong, Singapore and the non-resident Indian markets,» the bank said.