Two more experienced private bankers are on the way out of Deutsche Bank in London, we can reveal.
Chris Hocking and Dan Bellamy are joining Bellecapital, an independent wealth and asset management firm operating out of London and Zurich.
This move will see them reunite with a former colleague, Corin George, who worked for Deutsche until June 2020, and has been put in charge of growing Bellecapital’s UK wealth management business. The boutique manages about £2.8 billion across its Swiss and UK outfits.
Mr Hocking worked for Deutsche Bank for 10 years, where he looked after ultra-high net worth clients. His early career was with the Royal Navy, where he became an officer, before moving into banking at Kleinwort Benson and later, as a director within Barclays Wealth.
Mr Bellamy, meanwhile, joined Deutsche as his first role in banking, becoming a relationship manager during nearly a decade with the firm.
The resignations of Messrs Hocking and Bellamy follow that of London-based managing director Hella Alashkar, and head of wealth advisory and Swiss board member Yvan Wicht, who is based in Zurich. Both had recently been promoted. Another seinor Swiss banker is understood to be leaving to join J Safra Sarasin.
Earlier this month a source intimated that several recent departures were a result of a culture shift under Claudio de Sanctis, a former Credit Suisse banker who now runs DB’s ‘international private bank’.
Deutsche’s strategy has shifted decidedly towards the ultra-high net worth market in recent years.
This means some advisers who serve a proportion of seven-figure millionaires no longer feel their clients’ needs are prioritised, due to a focus on esoteric products not necessarily suitable for a garden-variety UK domestic wealth client. One source working for DB said they felt there was too much emphasis on transaction volumes.
Deutsche’s first quarter results, released yesterday, show the highest quarterly group profit in seven years, however this growth was driven by the investment bank. Revenues within wealth management and private banking were down 2 percent year-on-year, to €602 million. On a quarter-by-quarter basis, they were up 3 percent.
