Deutsche Bank Poised For Hiring

Is Deutsche Bank the land of opportunity in 2006? With 63,000 employees and $993 billion in assets, the German juggernaut has already named three new managing directors, fortifying its high-growth wealth management and equity divisions, and may not be finished yet.

Earlier, Deutsche appointed John Dudzik as Managing Director of its U.S. Private Client Services, expanding a business that is "a high-priority core objective for us," according to division chief Thomas Bowers.

It was one of several moves by Deutsche in April, including a continued expansion of the energy investment banking group. The bank re-launched coverage of electric utilities by naming of former CreditSuisse executive John Kiani to its Global Research division, to focus on utilities.

Recruiters believe that the changes represent a net positive for hiring and compensation at the bank. Deutsche is poised to fill out its energy and equity research teams at the managerial, analyst and junior levels, they say. Compensation should follow, given Deutsche's increase in average compensation by nearly 30 percent last year.

A recruiter at one executive search firm with previous experience placing senior executives at Deutsche said that while the firm has cut stock options, its cash bonuses and incentive packages are "likely to have been present in these deals." The firm's equity division "faces increased demands from institutional investors, requiring wider coverage," the recruiter said. "To satisfy this base you not only need research, but people to market and service products."

To that end, Deutsche widened the management team of its equity franchise, adding Michael Ryan as a Managing Director, Greg Spano as a Director and Stacie Paterson as a Vice President within Global Markets Cash Equity Sales. A New York-based search consultant said that sales people in equities stretch across numerous product categories. Among them are some of the hottest in investment banking today, such as credit derivatives, fixed income and prime services. "Hiring at the top usually means that further headcount will come," he said.

Last week, media reports said the firm plans to merge its equity and debt underwriting operations in a further move to streamline its investment banking business and respond to rapid changes in financial markets.

Deutsche Bank's Institutional Client Group services investors linked to its Global Markets group with products including credit and equity derivatives, money markets, fixed income and foreign exchange. The group also includes Emerging Markets, another area whose rapid growth seems poised to increase headcount. Last week, Deutsche appointed Stephen Cunningham a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance and M&A for Latin America. Cunningham had previously spent 10 years at Morgan Stanley.