Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad
Fund managers (domestic and foreign) needing an institutional bank-backed trustee for unit trusts, wholesale funds, ETFs and PRS, including Shariah-compliant funds.
Trustee Footprint Index
69/100A reproducible score of public-record footprint and disclosure, not fees, quality or suitability. See the methodology. Disclosed scale is often self-reported.
| Category | Fund trustee |
| Ownership | Deutsche Bank group (Germany), via Deutsche Bank Securities Services |
| Established | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Kuala Lumpur |
| Licensing | Registered trust company under the Trust Companies Act 1949; trustee appointments for collective investment schemes fall under Securities Commission Malaysia oversight |
| Scale | Trustee for 227 collective investment schemes as at 30 April 2023 (unit trusts, wholesale funds, ETFs and PRS). Held roughly 13% of Islamic collective investment schemes as at December 2018. AUM/assets under trusteeship not publicly disclosed. |
| Best for | Fund managers (domestic and foreign) needing an institutional bank-backed trustee for unit trusts, wholesale funds, ETFs and PRS, including Shariah-compliant funds. |
Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad (DTMB) was incorporated in Malaysia on 22 February 2007 and began business in May 2007. It is a member of the Deutsche Bank group and sits within Deutsche Bank's Securities Services division, which provides trust, custody and related services on securities and financial structures. It is registered as a trust company under the Trust Companies Act 1949, and its trustee appointments for collective investment schemes come under Securities Commission Malaysia oversight. Its registered address is Level 20, Menara IMC, 8 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.
DTMB is a fund trustee rather than a retail estate-planning firm. It acts as trustee to unit trust funds, wholesale funds, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts and private retirement schemes, and also offers fund-accounting services to domestic and foreign fund managers. As the legal owner of a fund's assets, the trustee's core job is to hold assets and ensure the fund manager complies with the deed, prospectus and relevant law. As at 30 April 2023, DTMB was named in fund documents as trustee for 227 collective investment schemes.
On the Islamic side, DTMB became the first trustee in Malaysia to obtain Shariah-compliant certification for its Islamic-fund processes, from Amanie Advisors Sdn Bhd in July 2019. Deutsche Bank cited DTMB as trustee for about 13% of Islamic collective investment schemes in the market as at December 2018, with its Islamic assets under management up 68% between 2015 and 2018. The wider Deutsche Bank Malaysia securities-services business has collected repeated The Asset Triple A awards for domestic custody, Islamic custody and fund administration.
Leadership has changed over the years: Richard Lim has been associated with the business as Head of Securities Services Malaysia, and Sylvia Beh was appointed to lead the Malaysia trustee business in 2023. Beyond fund counts and market-share references disclosed by Deutsche Bank and in SC fund listings, DTMB does not publish assets under trusteeship or detailed financials, so precise scale figures are not disclosed. Most verifiable detail comes from fund prospectuses that name DTMB as trustee rather than from a standalone company website.
Services
- Trustee for unit trust funds
- Trustee for wholesale funds
- Trustee for exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Trustee for real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Trustee for private retirement schemes (PRS)
- Fund accounting services
- Trustee for Shariah-compliant Islamic collective investment schemes
- Custody and related securities-services support within Deutsche Bank Securities Services
Strengths
- Backed by Deutsche Bank, a global institution with 55-plus years of presence in Malaysia
- Broad fund-trustee franchise: 227 collective investment schemes as at April 2023 across unit trusts, wholesale funds, ETFs and PRS
- First trustee in Malaysia to obtain Shariah-compliant process certification (Amanie Advisors, 2019)
- Combines trustee and fund-accounting services under one securities-services roof
- Repeated industry recognition (The Asset Triple A awards for custody and fund administration)
Watch-outs
- Institutional focus on fund trusteeship; does not serve individuals seeking estate planning, wills or private family trusts
- Assets/funds under trusteeship and financials are not publicly disclosed
- Part of a global bank, so local decision-making and service scope tie to Deutsche Bank group strategy
- Limited public-facing information; most detail comes from fund prospectuses rather than a dedicated corporate site
Official website: https://www.db.com