Senior compliance staff exit Deutsche Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong

Deutsche Bank’s compliance and anti-financial crime (AFC) team in Singapore and Hong Kong was hit by senior departures last week as the bank continues to restructure its operations globally.

We understand that Kok Siang Wee, head of AFC for Singapore and Southeast Asia, is no longer with Deutsche. Wee joined DB in 2011 as regional head of compliance for asset and wealth management, following a six-year stint at Societe Generale, latterly leading Singapore compliance, according to LinkedIn.

Meanwhile, Yen Giang, a Hong Kong-based director working in regional AFC, has also quit Deutsche, according to the source. Giang moved over from JP Morgan in 2017. Her career, which began in 1998, included three years as regional anti-money laundering and global transaction services compliance head at Citi.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment, while none of the three compliance professionals replied to requests to comment. 

We understand that their departures were part of the global restructuring that Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing announced in July, which involves 18,000 job cuts across the bank over the next three years. The programme includes realigning infrastructure functions (such as compliance) with the front office to strengthen productivity and cost efficiency. 

In May, Deutsche also announced the merger of compliance and AFC with non-financial risk management, but assured employees that it would not make any sacrifices within its control functions. “On the contrary, we can and will further improve them,” Sewing said, in a message to staff.

At a rank-and-file level in Asia, Deutsche does not appear to be cutting back in compliance. The firm’s careers site has five compliance vacancies in Hong Kong, and four in Singapore, most of which are at AVP or VP rank. The Singapore roles are all in AFC, the team formerly headed by Wee.

As we’ve been reporting in recent weeks, Deutsche is also hiring in fields such as credit trading, transaction banking, asset management, technology, and private banking.

Image credit: Anna Anisimova, Getty

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