Deutsche Bank chiefs urge CEO to cut responsibilities

Frankfurt

DEUTSCHE Bank AG's top supervisors told chief executive officer Christian Sewing that they would prefer him to hand oversight for investment bank to someone else so he can fully focus on his main role, according to people familiar with the matter.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and Germany's BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) raised the issue in informal talks with Mr Sewing and aren't pushing for immediate change, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the private information. They signalled a handover of the responsibility next year could be sufficient, the people said.

"We're in continuous constructive dialogue with our regulators and there are presently no plans to change management board responsibility for our investment bank," a spokesman for Deutsche Bank said in a statement. Representatives for the ECB and BaFin declined to comment.

Mr Sewing added responsibility for the investment bank to his CEO role after the ouster of former head Garth Ritchie during the lender's restructuring in July. Mr Sewing has been considering hiring an external executive to hand over that role to ease the workload on him, Bloomberg reported in September, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The pressure by regulators was first reported by The Financial Times on Monday. The lender on Friday said that it added Fabrizio Campelli to the management board to lead the restructuring. The "size of the task" warrants the appointment, supervisory board chairman Paul Achleitner said.

The appointment of "Campelli as chief transformation officer gives the CEO and his deputy far more time to focus on the strategic direction and development of the business", the spokesman said on Monday. BLOOMBERG