GERMANY - Deutsche Bank is planning to set up an asset and wealth manager - which will include businesses it had formerly put up for sale - that is to serve as the bank's "fourth business pillar".
As announced in June, the bank plans to establish Asset & Wealth Management (AWM), including former corporate banking and securities business such as ETFs.
According to its 'Strategy 2015+' overview, parts of the bank's businesses previously up for sale - namely DWS Americas, DB Advisors, Deutsche Insurance Asset Management and RREEF - will now be "integral" parts of AWM, the bank said.
Negotiations with US-based asset manager Guggenheim Partners over the sale of these businesses fell through earlier this year.
Following an extensive review, the bank said it had decided to integrate these businesses and make the AWM division an "essential part of the universal banking model".
It said it expected assets under management in the division to increase from €900bn to €1trn by 2015.
Following shareholder criticism at its AGM earlier this spring, the bank announced that it would position itself at the "forefront of cultural change in the industry" by increasing the time horizon for deferred bonus payouts for senior management to a single payment after five years.
It will also appoint an independent external panel - comprising industry leaders, academics and compensation experts - to review compensation.
In a statement, Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, co-chairmen of the management board and executive committee, said: "The medium-term economic and regulatory outlook is challenging, hence we need to significantly improve our operating performance and efficiency."
Deutsch Bank said the three pillars - Private & Business Clients, Corporate Banking & Securities (CB&S) and Global Transaction Banking - "bolstered by a new fully integrated Asset & Wealth Management division", would collaborate much more closely to generate "substantial synergies".
The new CB&S division will "recalibrate its model" as ETFs are integrated into the AWM division and aim to increase its share in the US and Asia Pacific, two regions where Deutsche Bank plans to increase its involvement.
The bank also noted that its "aspirations" for the Strategy 2015+ had been based on a number of "key assumptions".
These include the normalisation/stabilisation of asset valuations, revenue growth by the bank in line with the market, no major changes to current regulatory frameworks on capital or separation of business activities, global GDP growth in the range of 2-4% per annum over the period, normalisation of the euro/dollar exchange rate at approximately 1.30 and the bank's achievement of selective consolidation-driven market share gains.
