Deutsche bridges private banking and forex

Deutsche Bank is seeing increased foreign exchange business from its private clients following the recent appointment of David Bee in London, Risk's sister publication FX Week reports. Bee is working with Jim Turley, global head of forex in London, and several members of senior management in private wealth management to offer wealthy clients a range of products to manage currency exposure.

Bee, who joined the bank in July from Citigroup Private Bank, where he was global head of foreign exchange, said there is increasing demand for forex services from these clients as they increasingly invest across borders.

"Private clients are becoming more international. With the growth in global financial television and online trading, private clients are more aware of international investments," Bee said. These investments bring currency exposure that must be managed, and this presents a good opportunity for banks such as Deutsche to provide them with forex services, he said.

In common with the fund management community, wealthy clients are also increasingly recognising foreign exchange as a separate asset class, said Bee, and are trading more currency speculatively.

Turley said in an internal memo at the time of Bee's appointment: "Deutsche's forex business is poised for considerable growth across client segments. Bee will develop a viable global bridge between foreign exchange and the private wealth management division to support our vision of being the forex provider of choice to the financially successful."