The private wealth management division of Deutsche Bank aims to grow net new assets by up to 10 per cent a year, the Frankfurt-based bank's chief executive has told shareholders at the firm's annual general meeting, according to media reports.

Josef Ackermann said the bank's private wealth management division intends to increase assets by 8 per cent to 10 per cent annually, as well as increase cooperation between the bank's investment banking and private client businesses.

Mr Ackermann said currently more than half of new business in the bank's private wealth management arm is derived from cooperation with the investment bank. Deutsche Bank's asset and wealth management businesses posted net revenues of €1 billion ($1.5 billion) for the first quarter of 2008 compared to a pretax loss of €141 million ($219 million) for its parent company. The bank's private client and asset management arms "give us significant advantages in troubled periods in investment banking: both these divisions diversify our earnings and reinforce our ratings," said Mr Ackermann.

Mr Ackermann also renewed his commitment to the bank's presence in the US saying that the country accounted for one third of the potential global revenues in banking, "and we can secure a good slice of the pie for our shareholders," he added.

Earlier this month, Mr Ackermann denied he was interested in taking the top management job at Swiss bank UBS.