The German lender's European wealth boss is launching a hiring offensive that includes poaching from Goldman Sachs as well as Credit Suisse, his former house.
The arrival of former Credit Suisse private banker Claudio de Sanctis at Deutsche Bank led to several major changes, as finews.asia reported two weeks ago. De Sanctis, who runs the Frankfurt-based lender's wealth arm in Europe, is launching a hiring offensive, according to a memorandum seen by finews.asia.
The bank will reduce the number of market heads to six, from 14 previously. De Sanctis is poaching Marco Pagliara from Goldman Sachs for one of the market roles. Pagliara, who joins in June, previously ran the U.S. bank's wealth business in Switzerland and continental Europe.
Change for Ex-Coutts Boss
The hire represents a catch for Deutsche in proving that the speculation surrounding a merger of its ailing parent isn't affecting its ability to hire quality wealth managers. At Deutsche, Pagliara will be responsible for the U.K, Nordics, Luxembourg, Swiss domestic clients, and emerging Europe.
The ex-Goldman banker's arrival also heralds changes for Michael Morley, the former Coutts & Co boss who hired on at Deutsche nearly two years ago. The 61-year-old will report to Pagliara from June, and no longer de Sanctis himself. The same goes for Peter Schmid, a veteran Swiss private banker who joined Deutsche last year.
Credit Suisse Ultra-Rich Banker
De Sanctis is also poaching from his former shop, Credit Suisse, where he ran the Swiss bank's European wealth arm for nearly three years. He is hiring Alessandro Caironi away from Credit Suisse as a coordinator for ultra-rich clients – a similar role to the one he held previously.
It is the second time Caironi has followed de Sanctis, after a 2016 jump from UBS to Credit Suisse. The changes represent de Sanctis' efforts to heave Deutsche Bank, which at 199 billion euros ($226 billion) is dwarfed by giants like Citi and UBS, into «becoming the pre-eminent pan-European wealth manager», he wrote to staff.
The push mirrors similar efforts by rivals including UBS and Credit Suisse to lessen their reliance on cash-intensive investment banking in favor of private banking, which tends to provide more regular income.
Parent's M&A Talks
Besides the management offensive, Deutsche will keep poaching from rivals for private bankers, de Sanctis told «Bloomberg» in an interview. This is part of a plan to hire at least 100 private bankers around the world under unit head Fabrizio Campelli.
Whether the duo can do so is not entirely in their hands: Deutsche, now on its third CEO in four years, has been mired in difficulties for years. At the German government's urging, current CEO Christian Sewing is discussing a tie-up with Commerzbank, which casts uncertainty over Deutsche's general strategy for the future.
