Deutsche focuses on investment banking in reshuffle

Wednesday, 14 March 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Deutsche Bank is shaking up its top management to give investment banking and emerging markets more prominence, and will oust risk officer Hugo Baenziger, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

It will elevate American banker William Broeksmit, currently head of risk at the corporate and investment bank, to its seven-member management board as group risk chief, the sources said.

Between 1996 and 2001, Broeksmit established Deutsche’s over-the-counter derivatives business in Europe and was part of a core group of bankers who, like investment banking chief Anshu Jain, defected from Merrill Lynch.

The move also foresees the appointment of Canadian trader Colin Fan, and Australian Robert Rankin as co-chief executives of the investment bank, the source said.

Fan is head of credit and emerging markets, the heart of Deutsche Bank’s “flow monster” which has been responsible for generating the lion’s share of profits.

Rankin, who heads Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific operations, helped the bank secure roles on the landmark AIA and Agricultural Bank of China initial public offerings. The German bank is in a period of transition before 49-year-old Jain, head of the corporate and investment bank, and 63-year-old Fitschen, now head of regional management, take over as co-chief executives in May following the retirement of Josef Ackermann. Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the moves. “We never comment on market rumours,” a spokesman for the bank said. Baenziger, a powerful figure within the bank known for his grasp of regulation and his ability to challenge investment bankers, was himself passed over as chief executive last year.