Deutsche Bank is to cut jobs at its Sal Oppenheim wealth management business that it bought more than two years ago, coming at a time when firms are looking to trim costs in a difficult financial environment, a report says.

Deutsche Bank is to cut jobs at its Sal Oppenheim wealth management business that it bought more than two years ago, coming at a time when firms are looking to trim costs in a difficult financial environment, according to Reuters.

Sal Oppenheim was quoted as saying yesterday: “Due to planned measures, a significant number of jobs are impacted.”

This publication was unable to obtain a comment from Deutsche Bank at the time of going to press to provide further details.

Headcount at the 220-year-old wealth advisor has already contracted to around 930 from 2,400, the report said.

Recent results for Deutsche’s asset and wealth management arm – including the Sal Oppenheim business – have been mixed. In October, the Frankfurt-listed bank reported that its asset and wealth management division logged pre-tax income of €64 million ($82.8 million) in the three months to end-September, a 65 per cent fall from the same period a year ago, while the overall German bank’s income rose 20 per cent year-on-year to €1.127 billion. This business division reported net revenues of €971 million in the third quarter, a rise of €95 million, or 11 per cent, compared to the same period in 2011, the Frankfurt-listed bank said in a statement today.

Appointments

There have been some significant appointments at Sal Oppenheim over the past few months, however. In May, it named Dr Wolfgang Sawazki as head of private banking portfolio management and Dr Sönke Siemßen as head of the bank’s recently-created bond portfolio management unit.

According to the newswire report, Sal Oppenheim said it will transfer some fund management activities to Deutsche Bank's asset management unit DWS.

Earlier this year, after months of discussions, Deutsche Bank sold its BHF Bank wealth management business to RHJ International, owners of UK-based Kleinwort Benson. Deutsche acquired the BHF Bank business at the time it purchased Sal Oppenheim in the spring of 2010.

Other European firms are cutting costs to keep margins under control. Yesterday, Credit Suisse, which is the midst of a cost-cutting drive, announced a revamp of its corporate structure, placing private banking and asset management into the same division; that bank recently announced it was selling its London-based Clariden Leu (Europe) business to Switzerland’s Falcon Private Bank.