(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG hired John Arena from Bank of America Corp. to help structure art loans for the ultra-wealthy. 

Arena will join as a director in Florida and report to Bill Lordi, head of lending for Deutsche Bank’s international private bank in the Americas, according to a memo to staff. A Deutsche Bank spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo. 

“Art is an important component in an individual’s financial profile, and John will help clients create liquidity in this uniquely valuable asset,” Lordi and Arjun Nagarkatti, head of Deutsche Bank’s international private bank in the Americas, said in the memo. 

Arena spent more than a decade at Bank of America’s wealth-management division, where he was a subject-matter expert for fine-art lending and managed a multibillion-dollar loan portfolio, according to the memo. He previously worked at Citigroup Inc.’s private bank, where he focused on art lending to ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Globally, the ultra-wealthy have roughly $1.5 trillion of their wealth tied up in art and collectibles, giving banks the opportunity to advise clients on how to expand and protect those assets. Roughly 85% of wealth managers now say art and collectibles should be part of a wealth-management offering, according to a Deloitte survey. 

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