Deutsche Breaks Up Strategy Team -- WSJ
22 June 2018 - 5:02PM
Dow Jones News
Group's chief leaves job and his staff is likely to be
reassigned as part of shake-up
By Jenny Strasburg
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (June 22, 2018).
Deutsche Bank AG's global corporate-strategy team is being
dismantled and the executive who runs it, Ali Almakky, is leaving
that role, according to people familiar with the matter.
Of the more than a dozen employees who work under Mr. Almakky,
most are likely to move into other jobs, the people said. Mr.
Almakky has told colleagues he is in discussions about possibly
moving to another position but otherwise will leave Deutsche Bank,
one of the people said.
Chief Executive Christian Sewing's decision to break up the
corporate strategy team was communicated to Mr. Almakky and his
team about three weeks ago, roughly two months after Mr. Sewing was
named CEO, replacing John Cryan.
The changes are part of a broad reshuffling of top executives
under Mr. Sewing, a German and a career Deutsche Bank employee who
has moved a number of close colleagues into senior roles.
Mr. Almakky, who joined Deutsche Bank in mid-2015 from Bank of
America Corp., is based in London and doesn't speak German, one of
the people said.
A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman declined to comment about the
strategy group and declined to comment on Mr. Almakky's behalf. The
lender hasn't named a replacement for him or spelled out plans, if
any, for a revamped strategy group.
Investor confusion over Deutsche Bank's strategy, and the
lender's failure to make an after-tax full-year profit for the past
three years, have fueled frustration and weighed on shares, and
culminated in Mr. Cryan's ouster in early April.
A growing number of managers are leaving as the bank cuts costs
and thousands of employees and pulls back from businesses in which
it has struggled to make money, including parts of its U.S.
investment-banking division.
In a move unrelated to the strategy group, longtime
investment-banking executive Rashid Zuberi plans to leave,
according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Zuberi, who joined Deutsche Bank in 1996 and served as chief
operating officer of the investment bank in 2015 and 2016, most
recently has been global head of that division's financing and
solutions group. The bank spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr.
Zuberi's behalf.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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