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Less than a year after defecting from Credit Suisse, Claudio de Sanctis revealed how he plans to lure the world’s wealthy to Deutsche Bank. His biggest challenges also became apparent.

Claudio de Sanctis didn’t wait long: the Credit Suisse and UBS veteran had been in the top European wealth job at Deutsche Bank for just 11 months before he was suddenly tasked with running the entire 215 billion euro ($238 billion) private bank.

One month later, the 46-year-old private banking veteran revealed specifics of CEO Christian Sewing’s intention to win more profits from wealth management as Deutsche Bank retreats from large swathes of investment banking.

Entrepreneurs with a foothold in Europe, lending, and «holistic» coverage –  not especially revolutionary, but necessary nevertheless. De Sanctis’ predecessor, Fabrizio Campelli, told finews.com he is prepared to shower wealthy clients with up to 200 billion euros in loans to win business. 

Undercutting Rivals

Deutsche's largesse will be helped along by an easing of capital requirements – potentially making larger sums available for a lending offensive. De Sanctis, famously ambitions and hard to read, will also launch a new line of discretionary money management products - beloved by wealth managers because it locks clients in and provides recurring revenue.

The Swiss banker, who remains on good terms with his former boss Iqbal Khan, now co-head of UBS' private bank, signaled he will undercut competitors like UBS and Credit Suisse on prices, «challenging competitors whose business model is based on charging much higher rates and who face a long-term reduction in margins and volumes.»

Stanching Withdrawals

De Sanctis also reported the private bank stanched last year’s outflows, winning 9 billion euros in fresh money off clients. The boon is down to 90 new private bankers hired through September – at markets rates, de Sanctis insisted, in response to reports of «danger money» for big hires to join the battered German lender.

To be clear, the private bank makes for just one-fifth of the revenues in the wider retail unit it resides in (infuriatingly, Deutsche Bank calls this «private banking»). De Sanctis, a veteran Swiss banker who majored in philosophy, took over a relatively clean operation. Predecessor Peter Hinder had slimmed Europe to several major booking centers – Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Britain.