Roger Harrold, global head of direct securities services (DSS) at Deutsche Bank, has resigned. It is understood that he was not willing, for personal reasons, to transfer from Singapore to London. He is succeeded by Howard Topf, a former Bankers Trust executive who currently runs debt services for the bank in New York. Topf will move to London.
It has been known for some time that Dinkar Jetley, the global head of trust and securities services/cash management, financial institutions, within the Global Transactions Bank (GTB) at Deutsche Bank, was anxious to have the head of the sub-custody business alongside him in London.
This need to gather senior management in London was doubtless increased by the proposed integration of the GTB and the Investment Bank within the Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) division of Deutsche Bank. The follows the assumption of sole leadership of the CIB by Anshu Jain, following the retirement of co-head Michael Cohrs last summer.
The integration plan reflects the growing recognition, not just at Deutsche, of the opportunity to sell a wider range of investment banking products – such as securities financing and lending, and collateral management – and fund administration services to the investment banks, broker-dealers and buy-side clients for which the German bank is now clearing trades at the local level in over 30 markets.
The purchase of the Dresdner Kleinwort third party securities lending business in December 2009 is one measure of the seriousness of the integration and cross-selling ambitions. Tim Smollen, head of that business, was appointed global head of agency securities lending. A large part of his brief is to develop securities lending in the domestic securities markets where Deutsche provides local custody and clearing.
That network now spans 32 markets. Since it sold its global custody and German domestic depotbank business to State Street in 2002, the German bank has re-discovered an appetite for securities services, at least at the local level. Within a year of the State Street sale it bought the sub-custody and German domestic custody business of Dresdner Bank, and in 2007 added the sub custody business of Garanti Bank in Turkey.
Inevitably, the departure of Harrold will be interpreted by some as a sign of instability within the securities services business at Deutsche Bank, since it follows the departure last summer of client management head Michael Gedigk (see Michael Gedigk Leaving Deutsche Bank) and the departure just before Christmas of Rob Scott, co-head of global sales and relationship management (see Rob Scott Resigns from Deutsche Bank).
Although it is entirely possible that each departure had its own dynamic, clients will not have failed to notice that the changes follow the arrival of more dynamic leadership in the shape of Michael Aschauer and David Penstone from UniCredit in the Spring of last year, initially as head of custody and sales, respectively, in central and eastern Europe (CEE).
Within months of their arrival, Deutsche Bank had announced a “realignment” of its custody businesses along client, product and regional lines, re-naming the Domestic Custody Services business Direct Securities Services (DSS), and folding into it the broker-dealer clearing, fund administration and securities lending businesses as well as the local custody services.
Michael Aschauer emerged from that realignment alongside Rob Scott as co-head of global sales and relationship management, while retaining his responsibilities in CEE. The departure of Scott leaves him in sole charge. Aschauer is also a member of a streamlined DSS Global Executive Committee alongside Thibaud de Maintenant, global head of domestic markets including fund services, Stephen Lomas, global head of custody and clearing, and Tim Smollen as global head of agency securities lending.
The departure of Harrold comes after a 31 year career at the German bank, which dates back to 1979. It is not known whether Harrold plans to stay in securities services, where he has worked for most the last 18 years. He is working with Topf during the transition to the new leadership of DSS.