Deutsche Bank may announce investment bank revamp on Thursday: report

FRANKFURT - 24 April 2018: Deutsche Bank AG may announce changes in the strategy of its investment banking unit on Thursday along with quarterly earnings, a German newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The bank is considering cuts in the investment banking unit, but no decision is final, Handelsblatt newspaper reported.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The bank is considering cuts to equities trading, known as cash equities, and the prime brokerage, which serves hedge funds, the paper said. Cuts to trading of U.S. municipal bonds and parts of its Asia business are also being considered.

Deutsche has been conducting a global review of its investment bank to determine the way forward as revenues shrink and clients and staff leave.

Initial results of the review, known internally as Project Colombo, were expected soon.

Earlier this month, the bank got a new chief executive, Christian Sewing, who faces the same strategic problem that has long preoccupied its top management - whether or not to override the rainmakers and big earners at its powerful investment bank to shrink that business.

The appointment of Sewing - with a background in retail banking, auditing and risk - along with the recent resignation of one of Deutsche’s top investment bankers, Marcus Schenck, suggests a shift away from the investment bank, analysts and investors have said.