SINGAPORE - Deutsche Bank on Wednesday (Nov 13) launched its first Asia-Pacific innovation lab in Singapore, and will develop ideas with start-ups for its wealth management business.

The German bank declined to disclose an investment figure for the Singapore lab.

The bank said its innovation labs are part of its drive to digitalise and embrace emerging technologies for the benefit of clients.

Fot its Singapore lab, finding the best start-up opportunities across the Asia Pacific to scale globally across the bank's platform will be a key objective, said Deutsche Bank. It added that Singapore's addition to the platform will ensure that the innovation needs of the bank's Asia Pacific businesses are plugged into its global innovation platform.

The bank has other innovation labs in Berlin, London, New York and Palo Alto. Singapore's innovation lab is the first of the labs at Deutsche Bank that will be housed within the bank itself.

Opening the Asia Pacific Innovation Lab, Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific chief executive officer, Werner Steinmueller, said: "Asia, particularly Singapore, is proving to be fertile ground for talented start-ups and we are very excited about the potential for partnerships here."

Deutsche Bank noted that last year, US$48 billion was invested in Asia Pacific start-ups, with US$1.2 billion going into Singapore start-ups. This support indicates the level of investor appetite for innovative business solutions from the region's entrepreneurs, it said.

Ms Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), who officiated at the launch said: "We are pleased to welcome Deutsche Bank to the growing community of innovation labs in Singapore. Global financial institutions are crucial partners for start-ups in the development of deployable, scalable fintech solutions. We look forward to fruitful collaborations and successful fintech solutions that transform the financial services industry."