Deutsche Bank is nabbing three private bankers in Asia off Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer. It is part of a hiring spree intended to lessen the German bank's dependence on its capital markets arm.

Deutsche Bank is hiring Abishek Sharma, Ravi Sidhu and Kabir Sharma as private bankers for the offshore Indian clients, the German lender said Tuesday in an emailed statement. In their Dubai-based role, they will report to Amrit Singh, the bank’s head of wealth management in South Asia.

Frankfurt-based Deutsche said two more Julius Baer bankers will soon join including a managing director and director-level. The move is part of a concerted push by Deutsche to aggressively hire – mainly by poaching – in order to bolster its wealth arm. It comes against the backdrop of a cull of roughly 18,000 staff elsewhere, mainly in investment banking.

In Europe, Deutsche reportedly ponied up lucrative «danger money» to lift a 13-person team off rival Credit Suisse. The premium is intended to assuage the bankers' nerves about working for the troubled German lender. The hiring drive isn't new, but gained huge impetus from Deutsche's current crisis.