Deutsche hires private bankers from Citi in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Apr 10 (Reuters) Deutsche Bank has hired 18 private bankers from rival Citigroup in Singapore, sources said on Tuesday, marking the second serious exodus from the U.S.

banking giant in Singapore in a year.

Citigroup last year filed lawsuits against a group of private bankers who had left to join Swiss rival UBS .

The latest round of defections from Citigroup comes as local and international banks in Singapore battle over a limited pool of private bankers in Southeast Asia's fast-growing wealth management centre.

Deutsche Bank confirmed it had hired 18 private bankers, but declined to say from whom. Some of the new recruits have already started work at Deutsche, while the rest of them are due to begin in the coming weeks.

Half of the new hires are relationship managers and investment advisers, who deal directly with clients. The rest are product specialists. Most of the bankers will be based in Singapore.

In February, Deutsche took on former Citigroup executive Ravi Raju, who had spent 16 years at the U.S. bank, to head its private wealth management business in Asia Pacific.

Citigroup declined to comment.

The new defections are a blow for Deepak Sharma, who earlier this month was appointed to run Citigroup's global wealth management business outside the United States from Singapore.

The shortage of experienced private bankers has resulted in rounds of poaching over the past two years and in salary increases of between 30 to 50 percent for those who jump ship, according to a headhunter.

Earlier on Tuesday, sources also told Reuters that Goldman Sachs had hired six private bankers from UBS . The six bankers included three who advise clients with assets of more than million. [ID:nSIN221129] Singapore's private banking sector is attracting money from across the region, particularly from China and India where strong economic growth has created a new class of entrepreneurs.

Merrill Lynch/Capgemini expects the wealth of millionaires in Asia to grow by 6.7 percent a year through 2010 to .6 trillion, ahead of the global average of 6 percent.

The Boston Consulting Group said that the two main financial centres of Singapore and Hong Kong will need to hire an additional 1,000 private bankers, or relationship managers, every year for the next five years to handle Asia's rapid growth in private wealth.

Deutsche, Germany's biggest bank, has about 500 people in its wealth management operations in Asia. It has 21.5 billion euros ( billion) in funds under management at its private banking business in Asia.

REUTERS PV PM1922