Deutsche asset management head quits

Josef Ackermann, the chief executive-designate of Deutsche Bank, unveiled a major shake-up at Deutsche Asset Management yesterday involving the departure of Michael Philipp, the unit's most senior executive.

Mr Philipp, 48, had been responsible for Deutsche Bank's asset management and wealth management operations since June 2000. Pierre de Weck, the former UBS executive, will succeed him in wealth management, while Thomas Hughes moves from DAM's chief operating officer to head of Deutsche Asset Management.

The rejig comes ahead of Mr Ackermann's move into the chief executive's chair in May, and follows an overhaul of the board in January when he installed himself as head of Deutsche's 12-strong management committee.

Deutsche said Mr Philipp, who is a US citizen based in New York, had "decided to give up his executive responsibilities" to pursue interests outside finance, although he would continue as an adviser to the asset management business.

Earnings at DAM tumbled from €1.4bn (£895m) in 2000 to just €397m last year as the continued weakness in global equity markets, and a high costbase took their toll.

Mr Philipp is the most senior executive to leave Deutsche since January's reshuffle. That saw the bank's chief operating officer, Thomas Fischer, quit four months after losing out in a battle to succeed Rolf Breuer as chief executive.

Mr Philipp began his career at Goldman Sachs in 1981 and joined Deutsche in 1995 from Merrill Lynch, when he ran its worldwide futures and options business. Along with Mr Ackermann and Edson Mitchell, who died in a plane crash in December 2000, he helped spearhead a massive expansion of Deutsche's investment banking business, including the 1998 acquisition of US rival Bankers Trust Corporation.

He is said to have discussed leaving Deutsche before, and to have a keen interest in setting up a pottery business.

Mr de Weck, 51, left UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, last year after plans to spin off UBS Capital, the private-equity unit he headed, were shelved.

Deutsche has cut 9,200 jobs over the last year, including 4,000 in consumer banking and asset management.