Harrison tipped for role at DMG

Bill Harrison, who recently resigned as the chief executive of BZW, is set to head up Deutsche Bank in London as the German institution merges its own commercial banking operations with those of its investment banking arm, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. The new strategy could be announced as soon as this week.

While Mr Harrison's appointment has yet to be confirmed, the template for Deutsche Bank's reorganisation is largely agreed; the Morgan Grenfell name will be scrapped, and the investment banking side will be combined with commercial banking, centred in London, to form a wholesale banking operation on the same lines as JP Morgan.

Mr Harrison is likely to be paid less at Deutsche than at BZW, where he got pounds 2.85m in his last full year. Mr Harrison, nicknamed "Attila the Brum", is also unlikely to get much of a payout from BZW, according to observers, since he resigned.

Michael Dobson, the current chief executive of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, will remain a member of the 10-strong Vorstand, the council which runs Deutsche Bank globally. While his new role has not yet been confirmed, Mr Dobson is likely to help merge Morgan Grenfell Asset Management (MGAM), the business which fell victim to the Peter Young affair and the departure of Nicola Horlick, with Deutsche's own retail asset management arm.

Mr Dobson was given the mandate by Deutsche to build a world-wide investment bank centred on Morgan Grenfell in London, and may still continue with a group-wide role.