Deutsche Bank’s New Retail & Wealth Head Set to Revamp Unit

Deutsche Bank AG’s incoming retail and wealth management division head, Claudio de Sanctis, is preparing a revamp of the unit that will look to seize on faster growth in international markets.

(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG’s incoming retail and wealth management division head, Claudio de Sanctis, is preparing a revamp of the unit that will look to seize on faster growth in international markets.

De Sanctis is planning to reshuffle responsibilities along geographical lines and will likely turn regional heads into direct reports, people familiar with the matter said. That may lead to a broader remit for US wealth management head Arjun Nagarkatti and potentially also for the unit’s global head of advisory & sales, Alessandro Caironi, one of the people said. 

It’s not clear how much the responsibilities of current German retail head Lars Stoy will be affected, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the plans are still private. De Sanctis will also seek to close more domestic retail branches, they said.

The wealth management and retail division has long struggled to generate profits amid low and negative interest rates in the euro area. However, the European Central Bank’s rapid series of rate hikes has pushed up returns more recently. 

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the changes. 

De Sanctis takes over the role in July from departing Deutsche Bank President Karl von Rohr. The former Credit Suisse Group AG banker has been promoted several times since joining the German lender in late 2018.

Most recently, de Sanctis has been overseeing Deutsche Bank’s wealth management and international retail operations since mid-2020. Closing a large number of retail branches in Italy and Spain has been one focus of his work during that time. 

Read More: Deutsche Bank Cuts Foreign Branches in Pivot to Affluent

De Sanctis’ Asian growth strategy was recently dealt a setback when the most senior wealth management executive in the region, Jin Yee Young, defected to UBS Group AG less than six months after de Sanctis had hired her from Credit Suisse. Deutsche Bank earlier this month promoted Marco Pagliara to head of emerging markets for the wealth management unit. 

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