Q1: How did the business perform in 2025, and what drove its growth over the past year? How has the cost-income ratio trended this year, and what were the key factors influencing it? Looking ahead, what are your main priorities and strategic plans for 2026?

2025 has been a robust year for Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank in emerging markets. We recorded double-digit revenue growth, driven by our strategic pivot toward ultra high net worth individuals and family offices, and a 70% increase in revenues from global discretionary portfolio mandates. We saw particularly strong performance in capital markets solutions, insurance wrappers, and lending. 

At our Investor Deep Dive on 17 November 2025, our head of private bank, Claudio de Sanctis, highlighted our progress toward a cost-income ratio below 70% in 2025, reflecting disciplined cost management, including a 13-point improvement to 63% in wealth management since 2023, and sustained revenue growth from asset gathering and product enhancements.

For 2026, the Middle East and Asia remain strategic investment priorities. In Asia, we are focused on growing coverage in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and the Philippines. In the Gulf, we will continue to deepen our presence in Saudi Arabia through hiring and infrastructure investment. In parallel, private bank global vice chairman, Salman Mahdi, relocates to Dubai in early 2026 to be closer to UHNW Gulf clients and to capture the region’s exceptional opportunities.

Other priorities include one bank collaboration across the investment bank, corporate bank, and DWS, which remains central to delivering the full power of Deutsche Bank to our clients in Asia and beyond. We are integrating private markets into DPM solutions via partnerships like Partners Group and DWS, and expanding lombard lending to embed liquidity access while maintaining investments.

Q2: Looking at the investment outlook for 2026, which markets and asset classes are you prioritising for client portfolios to capture opportunities while managing risks? How are clients currently allocating their portfolios, and what trends are you seeing in DPM adoption and investment behaviour?

Heading into 2026, we maintain our long-standing conviction in digital earnings. With massive capex in artificial intelligence continuing in the United States, we remain constructive on market leaders in AI, computing, electricity generation, and data-centre infrastructure. In Europe, we favour industrials and infrastructure beneficiaries of expanding fiscal spending, as well as banks, in Europe, the US, and Japan, given the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates.

In emerging markets in Asia, the same digital earnings theme plays out strongly through profitable mega-cap technology and semiconductor names that stand to benefit directly from the global AI investment boom.

From a portfolio construction perspective, we are seeing clients rotate cash into longer-dated fixed income to lock in attractive yields, while adding precious metals – notably gold and silver – as diversifiers in USD-heavy portfolios. Asian clients, in particular, continue to embrace our multi-asset discretionary portfolio management offering to build resilient, well-diversified portfolios across asset classes.

Q3: The private banking industry saw a plethora of leadership and structural changes in 2025. Looking into 2026, what are your key priorities for attracting and retaining talent across the front, middle, and back office? Are there plans for new hires in key markets?

Talent remains the cornerstone of our growth strategy. We will continue to pursue the hires that deliver the greatest client benefit and are most value-accretive for the franchise.

Our private bank plans to add up to 250 coverage hires globally, primarily relationship managers focused on ultra high net worth individuals, with a clear emphasis on Germany, Italy, the UK, the Middle East, and Asia to accelerate client acquisition and assets under management in wealth management. 

In emerging markets specifically, we will continue recruiting the very best professionals across all business lines while investing consistently in the development and retention of our existing teams. 

Attracting and nurturing top talent is – and will remain – a strategic priority. This will be supported by €300 million in investments over three years to build capabilities in AI-driven personalisation and digital solutions.