Via Yahoo Finance, Singapore, October 21:
To find the biggest money maker at the rarely-money-making Deutsche Bank AG, you need to travel 6,370 miles from Frankfurt to the 18th floor of a glass office tower overlooking the green waters of Marina Bay in Singapore.
There, Chetankumar Shah, a low-profile and publicity-shy banker in his early 50s, runs a team that oversees complex financing for clients ranging from Asian tycoons to an Indonesian conglomerate, while trading the distressed debt of companies including an Israeli shipping firm.
Shah may not be a household name on Wall Street, but his global financing and credit trading group pulls in an estimated 3 billion euros (US$3.5 billion) annually, accounting for about a third of revenue for the entire investment-banking division, people familiar with the matter said. After working alongside former fixed-income veterans like Sajid Javid — now a British lawmaker — and SoftBank Group Corp.’s Rajeev Misra, Shah now heads a unit that’s the top money generator for the investment bank most quarters, the people said, declining to be identified as the details aren’t public.
His importance underscores how even after years of trying to retreat from volatile businesses, Deutsche Bank hasn't been able to pull away from activities that pose risks if markets turn. Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing is targeting revenue growth after a relentless cost-cutting drive, returning to credit-default swaps and possibly base metals trading. The firm's primary regulator has already expressed concern about risks it’s taking in leveraged loans — a familiar refrain for a bank whose recent stumbles led to the highest legal bills of any European lender, resulting in losses for five of the last six years.
Under Shah’s leadership, Deutsche Bank has cemented its role as one of the world’s biggest credit traders. His global empire includes the distressed-debt trading business that has long been a strength of Germany’s biggest bank, along with a lending unit that's served as a growth area after many Wall Street rivals pulled back in the wake of the financial crisis.
“He was one of the pioneers that helped us create the markets business virtually from scratch,” said Anshu Jain, the former Deutsche Bank co-CEO who worked with Shah for more than a decade and is now president of Cantor Fitzgerald LP. “Chetan has a multi-decade track record of very good risk management.’’
Amid all the recent turmoil at the bank that led to a string of executive departures, including Jain and former CEOs John Cryan and Juergen Fitschen, Shah has been a constant. He’s outlasted six CEOs during his 15-plus years on the credit team, working as head or co-head for the last six years.
Despite the billions his team brings in, Shah avoids the limelight from his nondescript corner office in the heart of Singapore’s financial district. He declined to comment or be photographed for this story. A vegetarian teetotaler who loves cricket, Shah doesn’t even have a LinkedIn profile. He remains an “enigma” even to one banker who has worked alongside him for a decade....
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