Werner Steinmueller has been designated as chief executive officer of Asia Pacific for Deutsche Bank, the Frankfurt based lender said on Thursday. Currently heading the bank’s Global Transaction Banking (GTB) unit, Steinmueller will join the management board as part of the reshuffle and relocate to Hong Kong this fall.
As APAC CEO, he will succeed Gunit Chadha, who is leaving the bank this month. Steinmueller joined Deutsche Bank in 1991 and has led GTB since 2004. John Gibbons, most recently regional executive for EMEA and global head of banks and broker dealers for Treasury Services at J.P. Morgan will replace Steinmueller at the helm of GTB, which last year was merged with the firm’s investment banking unit.
Steinmueller will be the first member of the bank’s management board to be based in Asia, where Deutsche Bank has a presence in 16 countries and employs roughly 20,000 staff.
In an interview with The Asset last year, Steinmueller highlighted the region as a key growth area for Deutsche Bank. “We intend to add EUR 50 billion in leverage exposure supporting corporate and financial institutions around the world. From a priority standpoint, if Asia is the fastest growing region for us, the operations there will receive a relatively higher share of the investment pool,” he said.
“We are providing additional credit to Asia in three areas: firstly, to support our US and European MNC client franchise, including German Mittelstand clients with operations in Asia; secondly our Asian MNC client base; and thirdly, on a select basis, to domestic large corporate clients with headquarters in Asia.”
Jeff Urwin, head of the merged Corporate & Investment Banking unit at Deutsche Bank, commented the designation in a press release: “I am grateful to Werner for his long-standing leadership in Global Transaction Banking and look forward to continuing our work together on the Management Board. In John Gibbons, we have recruited a seasoned, trusted professional to Deutsche Bank. He has the right combination of client focus and experience in running a transaction bank to manage our business for the future.”
