More millions, please

It appears the clients of Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest private lender, are not rich enough. The weekly business magazine WirtschaftsWoche reported on its website that the bank was looking to expand business with private investors who have more money.

"Following recent gains in business with clients who possess substantial assets, we want now to concentrate on investors who have fortunes in the double-digit millions," Pierre de Weck, who heads the division of Deutsche Bank that deals with wealthy investors, told the magazine.

De Weck went on to say that the bank would need more financial advisors and perhaps more locations to make the expansion possible. Deutsche Bank has seen an upsurge in business from investors in highly indebted southern European countries looking for a more secure harbor.

The announcement comes after Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann said earlier in the week that all areas of the bank would have to make cutbacks due to slipping performance. The bank is also involved in a lawsuit filed by US financial authorities accusing Deutsche Bank of having duped investors prior to the financial crisis in 2008.

Deutsche Bank is currently under investigation in the United Kingdom, as well, for misrepresenting asset-backed securities linked to the Lehman Brothers collapse in the autumn of 2008.

Since the onset of the financial crisis, Deutsche Bank has attempted to expand its business with private investors in a bid to fight off its dependency on the relatively risky investment banking industry.

Author: Gabriel Borrud (dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Kyle James