DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Bank's new head of private clients is planning structural changes in his division. "Until now, the German private clients business and the international private clients and wealth management business have each been managed independently," Claudio de Sanctis told Handelsblatt in an interview published Friday. "The divisions will move much closer together." He said he wants to push ahead with the restructuring quickly. The newspaper quotes financial circles as saying that the manager wants to announce the new structure as early as in the coming weeks, and to reduce the number of management positions.

Claudia de Sanctis will take over as head of the private clients division on July 1 from Karl von Rohr, who will leave the board in the fall. This weekend, Deutsche Bank plans to complete the IT integration of Postbank into Deutsche Bank's systems as part of the Unity project. From de Sanctis' perspective, however, further investments will be necessary after that. "Further digitizing the retail banking business is a top priority for me across all brands," he continued to tell Handelsblatt. "We must continue to improve our IT infrastructure - even after the completion of the Unity project," he said.

Then, according to the manager, it will again make sense to "invest in additional services offered by fintechs, for example." In doing so, the manager set himself apart from the investment policy of his predecessors, who had repeatedly made smaller investments or holdings. "We have a manageable investment budget at our disposal," he said. "That's why it's better to focus on a few large investments that significantly improve our offering and are relevant to many customers."/stw/nas/jha/