Deutsche honcho visit highlights retail focus

Deutsche Bank Chairman Joseph Ackermann today arrived in India on a two-day visit, his first after the bank launched its retail operations in the country last October.

India is the only country in Asia where Deutsche Bank has launched its retail banking business. The bank has assets worth ¤972 billion and is ranked among the global leaders in corporate banking and securities, transaction banking, asset management and private wealth management.

Coinciding with Ackermann's visit, Deutsche Bank announced signing of Sania Mirza, the country's leading tennis player, as its ambassador to promote retail banking products and services in India.

Deutsche Bank has over Rs 10,000 crore of wholesale banking assets in India and has injected Rs 419 crore capital to support its growth in the country.

At the annual press conference of Deutsche Bank AG at Frankfurt last week, Ackermann had noted that "36 per cent of the business leaders surveyed at the World Economic Forum in Davos intend to invest in India during the next three years."

In the fourth quarter of 2005, Deutsche Bank opened eight branches in the five largest cities of India "" Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.

The German bank has hired 435 people, including 270 financial advisors, to support its retail operations. The bank was established in 1870 and had entered into retail banking by introducing small personal loans in 1959.

In India, the bank plans to target the upmarket clientele, with the threshold at Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for relationship management. A holding company has been established in India with a capital of $50 million for all non-bank entities.

The company, called Deutche India Holding Private, would be the umbrella organisation comprising Deutsche's asset management company, equity broking arm, primary dealership for government securities, its private wealth management firm and a BPO division.

The bank's core offering in India consists of financial planning and advisory services. As of now, Deutsche Bank has decided to embark upon the organic growth route, with emphasis on personal banking.