Deutsche Bank’s retail banking chief Rainer Neske expected to step down

The head of Deutsche Bank’s retail banking unit is poised to step down, just weeks after Germany’s biggest bank unveiled a new strategy that will involve big cuts at the retail division.

Deutsche's supervisory board is likely to discuss the departure of Rainer Neske - who joined the bank in 1990 and has been a member of the management board since 2009 - at a meeting on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the situation.

Deutsche declined to comment on the news, first reported by the German newspaper, Handelsblatt, which claimed that Mr Neske’s departure was because of a disagreement over the bank’s future direction.

Deutsche’s new strategy, spelt out by its co-chief executives, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen last month, will dramatically reduce the scale of the retail banking operations.

The plan envisages selling off Postbank, the German Post Office bank which Deutsche bought in stages from 2008, by the end of 2016. Deutsche's remaining own-brand retail business will also be shrunk sharply, with up to 200 of its 700-odd branches set to be closed.

Like many of its global peers, Deutsche is looking for ways to bolster its financial strength and boost returns, which have been hit by a combination of lacklustre markets and tougher regulation in the wake of the financial crisis.

However, whereas at other big banks, such as Barclays, Credit Suisse and UBS, the investment banking divisions have borne the brunt of the restructuring, at Deutsche the retail bank is at the centre of the overhaul.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015