Deutsche Bank Private Bank is preparing a targeted recruitment effort in its emerging markets franchise, aiming to add up to 50 relationship managers during the current year as it strengthens coverage in the Gulf region and North Asia. The planned intake is part of a multi-year buildout that the private bank says will continue with "selective hiring" in 2027 and 2028, according to Marco Pagliara, head of emerging markets at Deutsche Bank Private Bank.
Pagliara did not provide a breakdown of existing relationship manager numbers by region and did not give specific headcount targets beyond the commitment to add up to 50 relationship managers this year. The new hires form a component of the private bank's broader objective to grow its emerging markets front office headcount by 50% over the next three years.
The planned expansion will contribute to a larger hiring program that the private bank has previously outlined, under which around 250 bankers are expected to be recruited. A significant portion of those additions is slated to sit within the emerging markets franchise.
Deutsche Bank's hiring emphasis comes amid a wider industry trend of global banks enlarging private banking capabilities in high-growth regions, particularly across Asia and the Middle East, as wealth creation accelerates in those markets. The bank pointed to rising global financial wealth as a backdrop, with Boston Consulting Group's Global Wealth Report 2025 indicating that global financial wealth reached $305 trillion in 2024.
Client behaviour is also shifting toward broader geographic diversification. Pagliara said clients who historically concentrated assets in Singapore or Hong Kong increasingly allocate to additional wealth centres such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and the UK, and that allocations to Europe-domiciled investments have risen.
Switzerland has been identified as another focal point for headcount expansion within the private bank, Pagliara added. He linked the migration of allocations and the broader diversification trend to family clients' aspirations for global assets such as real estate and a desire to spread assets geographically to mitigate geopolitical risk, saying: "This diversification not only reflects (ultra-high-net-worth) family aspirations for global assets like real estate, it also reflects the clients’ desire to diversify assets geographically to mitigate geopolitical risk."
Alongside relationship management hires, Deutsche Bank Private Bank is sharpening its emphasis on Lombard lending, a secured credit product where clients borrow against investment portfolios. Adam Russ, the Frankfurt-headquartered group's global head of wealth management and business lending, said demand is increasing as clients deploy liquidity.
"Right now, I’m seeing more clients using the dry powder they’ve got," Russ said. "It’s not a case of clients aggressively leveraging, but they are just taking leverage up a tick." The bank sees Lombard lending as an area of strategic focus as client appetite evolves.
External industry data referenced by the bank underscores the growth in this segment. A 2024 report by Deloitte described Lombard lending as one of the fastest growing credit products since 2018, estimating a global market size of around $4.3 trillion.
Russ also highlighted the potential for increased market activity should clients gain conviction in particular opportunities: "There’s a lot of pent-up supply that can be used if people feel real conviction around certain trades, which is good, you know, being in a market like we’re in right now," he said. That dynamic helps explain why Lombard lending is becoming a more prominent part of the private bank's strategy.
The combination of headcount growth in targeted regions and renewed focus on leverage-backed lending products reflects the private bank's effort to capture an expanding pool of global wealth while responding to clients' shifting allocation and liquidity preferences. The bank's statements did not specify the current regional distribution of relationship managers, nor did they provide quantitative targets for 2027 and 2028 beyond the characterization of future hires as "selective."