Deutsche Bank's EMEA Wealth Boss Plans Management Revamp

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG’s new head of EMEA wealth management, Claudio De Sanctis, is shaking up his team of private bankers to turn around a business that’s losing assets.

Paul Arni, head of wealth management in Switzerland, will leave as part of the shakeup, as will a managing director and a director from the Swiss business, people with knowledge of the matter said. Over the next few weeks, De Sanctis is also planning to announce a new management structure for the entire wealth unit for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the people said, declining to be identified as the matter is private.

That move is likely to include a new leadership structure for the German wealth unit, which is currently co-headed by Daniel Kalczynski and Anke Sahlen, the people said.

Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s overall wealth operations, headed by Fabrizio Campelli, shrunk by 14 percent last year. EMEA was particularly hard hit, partly by the introduction of Europe’s MiFID II regulation, which has driven up costs and weighed on client activity. Deutsche Bank’s global wealth management unit saw clients pull 4.4 billion euros of money last year, or about 2 percent of assets under management.

"We are committed to the business and plan to further invest in wealth management in Switzerland," a spokesman for the German lender said, declining to comment on the departures.

Seasoned Banker

The German lender hired seasoned banker De Sanctis from Credit Suisse Group AG last year, reporting to Campelli. He is leading the integration of a new region that includes Germany and more than a dozen other markets including Switzerland, the U.K., Italy, Spain and France. Germany had previously been a separate unit.

De Sanctis spent five years at Credit Suisse, most recently heading its business with European clients. He previously worked for UBS Group AG’s European wealth business, his last post there being market head for Iberia and the Nordic countries.

Swiss financial blog Insideparadeplatz reported the Swiss departures earlier today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net;Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Ambereen Choudhury

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