Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing on Monday morning unveiled what he described as the most radical transformation of the bank in decades.
“We are doing nothing short of reinventing Deutsche Bank,” he told participants on a conference call intended to put flesh on the bones of a strategy that had been announced after a supervisory board meeting on Sunday.
Banks typically reach for the axe and the org chart when looking to present themselves as transforming. In this Deutsche has not disappointed.
 |
| Christian Sewing, CEO Deutsche Bank |
Senior executives are leaving: Garth Ritchie, the former equities head who has run the corporate and investment bank for the last two years, was already known to be going. But also on their way out are Sylvie Matherat, chief regulatory officer, and Frank Strauss, who was responsible for the private and commercial bank.
Businesses are being closed: the bank is shutting the whole of its equity sales and trading division, and Sewing confirmed speculation that some parts of this operation will end up in the hands of BNP Paribas. The capital allocated to parts of fixed income will be cut, especially in the rates business.
