Deutsche Bank’s management board has expanded its group executive committee from 12 to 18 members, with effect from 1 June, as part of a move increasing the influence of the German firm’s investment bankers.

The changes come as the bank looks to replace the outgoing chief executive of its Americas business, Seth Waugh. Along with his duties as CEO, Waugh’s replacement will take up his spot on the GEC. Overall group CEO Josef Ackermann is standing down this year at Deutsche Bank, as previously reported. 

Current GEC members Kevin Parker, head of asset management, and Pierre de Weck, head of private wealth management, will stand down on 31 May, the day of Deutsche’s annual general meeting.

Members of the GEC applauded the expansion, saying it will bring together leaders from the firm’s varied regions and areas of expertise around “one shared table”. The move was also cited as a reflection of Deutsche’s “growth and evolution” by creating this new generation of long-serving managers.

Deutsche Bank is headed by the seven-member management board and the newly expanded 18 member-strong GEC. The reshuffle sees a refocus of control by the firm’s investment bankers, with nine of the 18 members having ties to its IB arm. These include Anshu Jain (former head of corporate and investment banking), Stephan Leithner (co-head of investment banking advisory) and Henry Ritchotte (chief operating officer for the investment bank). However, Deutsche Bank reiterated that the move does not signal a refocus towards its investment bank and that it remains committed to a holistic model between investment and transactional banking.

Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management arm handles €269 billion (approximately $350 billion) of client assets under management.

The members of the group executive committee are:

·         Jürgen Fitschen, designated co-chairman of the management board and the GEC;

·         Anshu Jain, designated co-chairman of the management board and the GEC;

·         Stefan Krause, chief financial officer and a member of the management board;

·         Rainer Neske, head of private and business clients and a member of the management board;

·         Stephan Leithner, designated human resources, legal and compliance head; CEO of Europe (ex Germany and UK), and a member of the management board;

·         Stuart Lewis, designated chief risk officer and a member of the management board;

·         Henry Ritchotte, designated chief operating officer and a member of the management board;

·         Gunit Chadha, designated co-CEO of Asia-Pacific;

·         Alan Cloete, designated co-CEO of Asia-Pacific;


·         Michele Faissola, designated head of asset and wealth management;


·         Colin Fan, designated co-head of corporate banking and securities, and head of sales and trading;

·         David Folkerts-Landau, head of research;

·         Colin Grassie, CEO for the UK;

·         Robert Rankin), designated co-head of corporate banking and securities, and head of corporate finance;

·         Christian Ricken, chief operating officer of private and business clients;

·         Werner Steinmüller, head of global transaction banking; and

·         Richard Walker, general counsel.

In other developments at the firm, Deutsche Bank recently entered into exclusive talks with Guggenheim Partners over the sale of the German bank’s asset management business. The business units under discussion are DWS Americas, the Americas mutual fund business; DB Advisors, the global institutional asset management business; Deutsche Insurance Asset Management, the global insurance asset  management business; and RREEF, the global alternative asset management business.