Deutsche Bank strengthens private wealth team

Mar 30, 2009

The German bank builds its private banking operations in Asia-Pacific with two senior appointments.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management (PWM) announced yesterday that it has appointed Anil Venuturupalli as chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific and Mark Smallwood as head of wealth management solutions for the region.

Venuturupalli, who was previously based in the United States with Deutsche Bank PWM, will join the Asia-Pacific team on April 16. He will report locally to Ravi Raju, head of PWM Asia-Pacific, and globally to Carsten Schildknecht, who is global COO for the PWM business. Based in Singapore, Venuturupalli will provide regional oversight for the private bank's infrastructure functions, including human resources, operations and technology.

During his time with Deutsche in the US, Venuturupalli served as head of business risk and control, and from February 2006, he was a key member of the COO office. In this role, he was responsible for operational strategy, client on-boarding technology and re-engineering of operational risk models in the US.

Venuturupalli will take over as COO from Singapore-based Venkatesh Narashiah who is currently head of Deutsche Bank PWM onshore in Asia-Pacific. Narashiah will relinquish the COO role to focus on building Deutsche's onshore presence in the region.

Smallwood has relocated to Singapore from Deutsche Bank PWM in Geneva, where he was global head of insurance solutions and responsible for cross-border insurance planning and delivering onshore insurance solutions to European clients. He will retain this global responsibility, while also taking on the newly created role as head of wealth management solutions in Asia-Pacific with immediate effect. His new position will make him responsible for leading the wealth planning teams in Singapore and Hong Kong, which focus on wealth preservation and succession solutions for Deutsche Bank's PWM clients in the region.

Smallwood, who is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP), will also provide regional oversight of Deutsche Bank's Singapore-based trust company to ensure that the interests of PWM's clients are represented at the trustee level. He will report locally to Raju and globally to Johannes Baratta, global head of the key clients group.

Raju says the appointments demonstrate the bank's commitment to advancing Deutsche Bank's position as a leading private bank, and to providing the latest products and services to better serve the needs of its clients.

Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank PWM appointed Christian Nolting as regional head of portfolio management and lead strategist for Asia-Pacific, and Peter Pfister as director, private equity investments Asia-Pacific.