In 2007, Joachim Jaeger Skorge moved to Singapore as employee number one to build an investment banking business for DNB in Asia-Pacific.

He had never worked in Asia. He was based in New York, which he described as the centre of the universe for finance, and by his own account he was skeptical. His then boss asked him to visit, meet some clients and see whether there was business to be won. He went, saw the opportunity, and once he arrived the mandates came quickly.

His starting team was small: one colleague who joined from New York a few months later, and a couple of young analysts recruited locally. Nearly two decades on, he describes the platform as world-class.

Most of us will never be asked to build a business from scratch. But every banker is building a franchise, made up of clients, a team and a reputation.

Our latest episode of the Investment Banking Leaders Podcast with Joachim is a practical guide to how it is done, and these are the six lessons I would take from it.

DNB had been in Singapore since 1970, so the bank already had “a number of client relationships and things that we could build upon.” What it did not have was an investment banking capability. Joachim’s job was to build one, and his first priority was people.

He is still hands-on with selection today. The lesson is twofold. Franchises rarely start from zero, because the wider institution usually owns relationships you can build on. And the first hires set the culture, so the leader should be in the room for them.

Investment banking remains a popular career, so a regional team is never short of applicants. The hard part is knowing who will actually perform. Joachim’s answer at junior level is to let people prove it first. Most junior hires have worked with the team as interns before joining permanently, which he called “the best way to try people out in real life situations before they join the firm.”

At senior level the approach is the opposite of fast.

Part of that is reference checking and recommendations from clients. Part of it is making sure the candidate understands what they are joining. Joachim wants senior hires to have “a deep understanding of our business model, our culture, the way we work.” In a small regional team, one poor cultural fit is felt by everyone, so slow, deliberate hiring is a franchise protection strategy.

Asia-Pacific is vast, and the opportunity can look limitless. Joachim has seen European banks come to Asia and get excited about all the opportunities, all the countries and the potential growth. The risk of spreading yourself too thin and stifling growth is real, so you need to manage opportunities carefully.

We explored this discipline in an earlier issue on the deals you do not do.

What stood out here was how Joachim applies it to geography and risk. His team is open-minded, but it is more active in the more developed markets in the region, where the strategic fit is better. And there are lines they will not cross. The team is “very sensitive to things like corruption risk, reputation risk,” and tries to “shy away from risky situations.” A franchise is slow to build and quick to damage, so protecting the reputation is part of the strategy, not a constraint on it.

DNB Carnegie is the leading Nordic investment bank, and outside the Nordics Joachim says it sticks to industries where its heritage gives it real competence: maritime, where he says it is the largest investment bank worldwide, seafood, where he says the same, and oil and gas and renewables, where it is a respectable player.

What he emphasised was consistency.

There is a direct link here to the cycles we covered in a recent issue. The firms that remain committed to a sector through the downswing are often the ones clients and candidates remember when the market returns.

Joachim’s APAC franchise also acts as a bridge. Because his firm is strong in the Nordic capital markets, it can offer Asia-Pacific clients access to them, and it can help APAC buyers who want to acquire Nordic companies.

He made a persuasive case for the Nordic high yield bond market on the grounds of speed, cost and flexibility. As he put it, “spending six months preparing for a bond deal is essentially taking market risk,” whereas the Nordic market typically takes one to two months.”

He also pointed to a Nordic IPO market that he describes as the most active in Europe at the moment, with most of the money coming from investors outside the Nordics, including investors in APAC. The wider lesson for any banker is to ask what advantage your home market, sector or product gives you that clients elsewhere cannot easily get.

Early in his career, Joachim moved from Oslo to New York and had to start again with no network and a team full of senior bankers. He worked his way into client meetings, and one transaction became a career landmark: the restructuring of the Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard. He remembers the signing day, with thousands of workers celebrating, and Bill Clinton, the governor of Pennsylvania and the mayor of Philadelphia in attendance. His thought at the time: “I’m doing something meaningful here.”

Moving to Asia meant adjusting again, because Japan, China, Singapore and Australia each have their own business culture. But after almost 20 years in the region, his conclusion is simple.

He also pointed out that clients everywhere are busy: “CEOs, owners, investors, they’re all very busy.” So every meeting has to earn its place, and he likes “to bring something interesting to them when we catch up.” Integrity, knowing your subject and hard work are what he says clients appreciate in every market.

Whether you are launching in a new region or building a book within your current firm, here are six questions worth asking.

1. What does the wider firm already own that I am not using? Existing relationships can shorten the path from zero.

2. How much time have I spent on my most important hires? Slow, deliberate selection protects culture.

3. Which markets, clients or deals am I willing to say no to? Focus and reputation both depend on it.

4. Where do I have a heritage edge others cannot copy? Consistency through the cycle is hard to replicate.

5. What does my home market, sector or product offer clients elsewhere? Joachim’s franchise works as a bridge between the Nordics and Asia-Pacific, and the strongest franchises connect clients to something they cannot easily reach on their own.

6. Where am I overcomplicating how I work with clients across cultures? Professionalism, quality and respect travel everywhere, and every meeting should bring something worth the client’s time.

At the end of our conversation I asked Joachim what he would tell his younger self. He said he had been in investment banking for close to 30 years and in Asia for close to 20, and that the way to last is not only hard work.

“What is important working in investment banking for such a long time is to have a bit of inner peace, not getting stressed too easily.”

That may be the most overlooked ingredient in a franchise. Strategy, clients and talent all take years to compound, and the people who build lasting businesses are usually the ones who are still there, steady, when the opportunity arrives.

Build with focus, protect your reputation, and give yourself the staying power to see it through.