EUROPE - Deutsche Asset Management has confirmed the departure of Dipak Patel, director of consultant relationships.

A DeAM spokesman in London said the executive had left its UK office to pursue opportunities “at another company” – believed to be UBS Global Asset Management. UBS declined to comment.

The spokesman added that it would soon make an announcement regarding a replacement for Patel, whose duties included advising institutional clients on asset allocation.

Since April, DeAM has seen several top executives leave its offices in the UK and Germany. The first one to leave was former corporate pensions head Klaus Mössle, who joined Fidelity’s German office.

Mössle’s departure from DeAM was followed by that of Jörg Sihler, a former German bond chief and Karl Sternberg, a former chief investment officer.

Then in late August, DeAM’s parent Deutsche Bank appointed Kevin Parker as member of its executive committee with responsibility for asset management after Tom Hughes took a leave of absence.

The DeAM spokesman played down the departures, saying that a lot of them were related to “normal turnover which happens at all asset managers”.

He also reiterated that despite the recent loss of three billion pounds (4.3 billion euros) in UK pension fund mandates, DeAM’s UK business was still very much intact.

In the UK, DeAM has a total of 94 billion euros under management.