German’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank said it has started calling for the sell-off several assets that the banking giant does not want to retain in its books.
The move is part of Deutsche’s plan to move away from unprofitable segments of its business such as equities and core investment banking side of things.
Yesterday, we reported that the bank could be in talks with BNP Paribas SA and CitiGroup Inc for a possible sale of its equities desk. Deutsche had recently cut several jobs in its equities and securities trading business to streamline its operations.
Last month, we reported that the German lender and investment bank was looking at doing away with its securities and equities trading business and focusing more on the transaction and retail side of things.
Deutsche also plans to create a unit to manage its assets of close to $56.06 billion.
The assets to be managed and sold include long-dated derivatives.
Deutsche Bank has been in a sluggish state after the bank suffered several damages to its image on money laundering allegations. Its merger with Commerzbank also failed to get the needed approval from regulators.
At its last shareholders’ meeting, Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing, said it will execute ‘tough cutbacks’.
According to data compiled by Reuters News, Deutsche created a similar division for non-core investments in 2012 with 128 billion euros in risk-weighted assets. Deutsche wound up the unit nearly four years later, in 2016.
A major takeout of Sewing’s cutbacks and shuttering is a pointer that the bank could be looking at reducing its exposure to investment banking while pushing to focus on transaction banking.
