The latest senior moves, appointments and personnel changes in the Asia-Pacific wealth management sector.

DWS
European asset manager DWS has appointed Matthias Naumann (pictured) to head its direct real estate business in Asia-Pacific. He is based in Sydney and reports into Clemens Schäfer, head of real estate, APAC & Europe in Frankfurt.

In his expanded position, Naumann will oversee the platform’s day-to-day operations and direction as a dedicated "on the ground" head of real estate for APAC, whilst maintaining his current role as chief investment officer (CIO) real estate for APAC. In addition to expanding DWS’s presence in existing real estate markets, Naumann will be responsible for establishing strategic growth in new markets and key sectors. He is supported by a full service direct real estate platform covering portfolio management, transactions, asset management and research with a footprint in cities and countries including South Korea, Singapore, Australia and Japan. Naumann also chairs DWS’s APAC real estate investment committee, co-chairs the global real estate investment committee and is a member of Clemens Schäfer’s real estate leadership team.

Naumann, who joined DWS in 2013, has 20 years of experience. He has covered APAC as the CIO for real estate since 2021, relocating to Sydney from DWS’ Frankfurt headquarters in early 2024. Naumann started with DWS in its real estate research and strategy team, progressing to head of strategy in 2015 before his appointment as CIO for its European real estate platform in 2019. Before DWS, Naumann served as a senior analyst at AXA Investment Managers in London. Previously, he was an analyst at Invesco Real Estate GmbH in Munich. He started his career as a portfolio analyst at Investment Property Databank in London. Naumann holds a post-graduate engineering degree from TU Dortmund University.

“Matthias’ strong strategic credentials and CIO background, along with his APAC and international experience, will ensure greater alignment of our regional and global objectives and connectivity with clients,” Clemens Schäfer, head of real estate, APAC & Europe at DWS said.

Vanessa Wang, head of APAC and head of coverage, APAC added: “We are confident in Matthias’ ability to achieve growth in the coming years and to reach our clear objective to deliver our APAC real estate platform to global investors under his leadership.”

DWS Real Estate is a global platform with a long-established heritage in Europe, the US and APAC. The global direct real estate equity platform currently manages almost €55 billion ($65.14 billion) in AuM as of 30 June 2025.