Themen:
Insights
19 January 2026
For the latest in our Leaders’ Views series, we caught up with Nick Westlake, Co-Head of the UK Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) team at Deutsche Numis. Nick shares his perspective on the fast-evolving TMT sector, the impact of AI, and how his team leverages deep expertise and fresh ideas to deliver valuable insights and opportunities for clients – plus how he spends his downtime between sport and travel.
Can you tell us about your role and how it helps your clients?
I co-lead the UK Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) team. My focus areas are digital media, platform businesses and B2B events and information/data. By having a broad client base across TMT as well as strong investor connectivity through our sales team, we are able to provide our clients with valuable insights on the sector, what other peer companies are doing, market themes, as well as high-quality feedback on investor sentiment on their business and strategy.
What do you like most about working within the TMT sector?
The TMT sector is fast-growing and constantly evolving, with new and developing technologies that have the capacity to transform the industry and wider society. This means we are always meeting new interesting businesses with innovative ideas and exciting products that could become a national champion or global leader.
How are clients responding to the rise of AI in the sector?
Clients are looking at it in two ways. Firstly, how can they use AI to make their businesses more efficient and bring down costs. Secondly, they are keen to understand how AI could disrupt their businesses. It is this latter question which is the hardest to answer. In this regard, having access to deep insights on AI from Deutsche Bank’s global research team, as well as understanding how other Deutsche Bank clients are responding on a global basis, is extremely beneficial to the advice we are able to provide.
What drives the success of your team?
The key for me has always been focus, providing the team with clear objectives and then empowering them to take things forward whilst having the depth of expertise around them that they can both call upon and learn from. We also maintain an open culture where even our most junior team members are encouraged to share their ideas, which is especially valuable in the TMT sector, as younger talent are often closest to developments with new technologies, AI being a key example of this.
What are your team’s top priorities for the coming months?
We are primarily focused on:
How did you choose to work in this area and at Deutsche Numis?
I began my career as a corporate finance lawyer at an international law firm, specialising in IPOs and advising companies on M&A. I particularly enjoyed advising public companies and found the fast-moving environment of the public markets exciting. However, I noticed that junior bankers had much more client contact than junior lawyers, and seemed to have more fun, so I wanted to experience this within investment banking.
At this time, Numis was involved in a groundbreaking transaction structure called an ‘accelerated IPO’, a fast-tracked acquisition and listing process done at the same time, which attracted me to join. Over twenty years later, I’m still here. With all of the changes over the years, it has been like working for several different businesses and I continue to find the work fascinating. I am really enjoying being part of Deutsche Bank as it has been an exciting next chapter, and there is so much more we are now able to offer our clients as well as new opportunities we can pursue.
How is your team working with Deutsche Bank colleagues to create more opportunities for clients?
We are now able to offer so much more to our clients from deeper advisory experience, insights from our global sector teams, and new products such as debt and hedging solutions. I have enjoyed collaborating with the respective teams who have been extremely helpful and collegiate. It was pleasing to see that we recently successfully pitched for two new clients, with members from my team, and both the EMEA TMT sector and debt teams, seamlessly combining the strengths of each.
What are your interests outside of work?
I have three children and spend a lot of time taking them to their various sports activities, as well as being a lacrosse parent coach at my daughter’s school. I also enjoy sport, especially cycling and running, and love to travel with my family – we've recently visited Tanzania, Borneo, and Japan.