The Grassie is greener in Asia

Deutsche Bank's new CEO for Asia, Colin Grassie will take up his new position on April 1 2005, not the most auspicious date. He moves from his current position of head of global markets for Europe, a position he has held since 1997.

He was last in Hong Kong between 1995-1997 when he ran Deutsche's global markets business for the then colony.

As he takes up the reins of the CEO's position, incumbent CEO Ken Borda is being promoted to the role of chairman for Asia ex-Japan. Having previously run Australia/ New Zealand, Borda has been CEO of the bank in Asia since 2002.

According to Mike West, Deutsche Bank's regional spokesman, the shuffling of positions is a reflection of the rapid growth the bank has experienced in recent years. In the new order, Grassie will focus his time and effort on serving clients and doing deals, which is an extension of his background in debt capital markets, risk management and trading, the operations that make up Deutsche's global markets business.

Borda will now concentrate on strategy, advisory work and dealing with governments and regulators. Along with Robert Pride, Deutsche's COO for Asia, the three will make up a central management group that will run the bank in the region.

"Our Asian businesses are significant contributors to global group profitability and have delivered exceptional growth, both financially and in market share in recent years," says Juergen Fitschen, member of Deutsche Bank's Group Executive Committee and Head of Regional Management Worldwide. "Ken has done an outstanding job in coordinating the development of our business platform in Asia. Colin brings considerable client coverage expertise to a region where we are investing strongly.