Deutsche Bank extends CEO's mandate and revamps board in crucial year

By Stefania Spezzati, Christoph Steitz and Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Deutsche Bank has extended CEO Christian Sewing's contract, while its deputy and another top executive will depart as part of a management revamp, cementing the leadership team of Germany's largest lender for the next phase of its turnaround.

The array of announcements, made on Thursday evening, come in a crucial year as the once-troubled bank seeks to meet a series of ambitious targets. The moves will also influence the lender's global footprint and will help draw a line under an embarrassing legal blow.

Sewing, who joined the bank in his teens in the 1980s, was propelled to its top spot in 2018 after years of turmoil and huge financial losses at the lender. During his tenure, he oversaw failed merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank, a strategy overhaul and returned the bank to steady, if lacklustre, profits, despite some hiccups along the way.

"There's so much opportunity out there," Sewing wrote on LinkedIn.

"The next phase of our development will be about leveraging this opportunity."

Sewing's new term as CEO will be his third and run until April 2029. He has already begun rethinking how the bank will tweak its strategy for 2026 and beyond, which includes possibly closing some businesses. "Nothing is off limits," he has said.

The Frankfurt-based bank also announced that its deputy James von Moltke, who has been chief financial officer since 2017, will leave after his term ends next year.

Raja Akram will take over as CFO. He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he has served as deputy CFO since 2020.

Also departing is board member Stefan Simon, who headed the Americas and the bank's legal department.

Last year, Simon achieved just over 60% of his short-term incentive goals, compared with Sewing's 103% and von Moltke's 98%, according to the bank's annual report.

Deutsche last year was caught off guard by a legal issue at its giant Postbank division, causing the bank to post a quarterly loss after a long streak in the black.

Deutsche Bank said Simon was leaving for personal reasons, and Sewing expressed his gratitude. Simon, who mentioned on LinkedIn that he was proud of the bank's momentum, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fabrizio Campelli, who leads the investment bank, will also take on regional responsibility for the Americas starting in May, succeeding Simon.

Since Sewing took over, Deutsche's shares have roughly doubled, outperforming the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index, which has risen by about 50% over the same period.

As Sewing strives to meet his ambitious profit and cost targets, some analysts remain sceptical about the bank's ability to meet all its goals.

In January, Deutsche Bank reported that its fourth-quarter and full-year profit fell more than expected, with gains in investment banking revenue offset by legal provisions and restructuring costs. The bank also abandoned a key cost target.

Still, Germany's bold move to ease longstanding caps on government spending is a positive for the lender and economic growth in Europe's largest economy, analysts at RBC said in a note to clients on March 24.

The board changes were overseen by the banks' chair, Alexander Wynaendts, at a supervisory board meeting held virtually on Thursday. This followed his whirlwind tour to Beijing, Frankfurt and Brussels earlier in the week, where he was speaking at a conference.

The bank's supervisory board will also see turnover, as Theodor Weimer and Dagmar Valcarcel will not be seeking new terms, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. These changes were previously reported by Handelsblatt.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Stefania Spezzati and Tom Sims; Editing by Thomas Escritt, Elisa Martinuzzi, Susan Fenton, Mrigank Dhaniwala, Sabine Wollrab and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)