South African Economist to Address Mauritius' Business Community

Gordon Smith, Chief Economist of Deutsche Securities in South Africa is visiting Mauritius to address guests of Deutsche Bank Mauritius at a seminar to be held at the Maritim Hotel this evening.

He is regarded among leading South African and emerging market fund managers as a top economist, particularly for his knowledge of the South African economy and financial markets and has extensive experience in macroeconomics and financial economics, from both a theoretical and business perspective, as applied to the South African financial markets.

Also speaking at the event are Mitchell Hopwood and Mike Bird. Mr Hopwood is a Product Manager with a broad knowledge of investment products in both traditional and alternative asset classes as well as structured and derivative products. Mike Bird, the Deputy Head of Global Custody for Deutsche Bank's Offshore Group, will be addressing the gathering on Deutsche's global custody services which will be of particular interest to management companies, in the light of the proposed legislation on collective investment schemes.

Mr Roger Winfield, Managing Director of Deutsche Bank in Mauritius, commented "We are delighted to welcome Gordon Smith to Mauritius, he is known and respected as an opinion maker by key South African economic policy makers and he will bring us up to date on recent developments in both the regional and international markets that affect us all".

"Since we established our operations in 1999 we have made great progress increasing from five to nearly fifty employees. Our commitment to high levels of service have made us the Bank of choice for many of the financial intermediaries operating in Mauritius and the introduction of Presto On-Line, our internet delivered electronic banking solution, designed especially for intermediaries, has played a significant role in differentiating us from our competitors.

"We are now entering the next phase of our growth as our operations in Mauritius have recently become part of Deutsche Bank's Private Wealth Management group. This means that through our office here in Mauritius, private clients and trustees will be able to access the broad range of investment products that are widely available to Deutsche Bank's global clientele."