Group's chief leaves job and his staff is likely to be reassigned as part of shake-up

By Jenny Strasburg 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (June 22, 2018).

Deutsche Bank AG's global corporate-strategy team is being dismantled and the executive who runs it, Ali Almakky, is leaving that role, according to people familiar with the matter.

Of the more than a dozen employees who work under Mr. Almakky, most are likely to move into other jobs, the people said. Mr. Almakky has told colleagues he is in discussions about possibly moving to another position but otherwise will leave Deutsche Bank, one of the people said.

Chief Executive Christian Sewing's decision to break up the corporate strategy team was communicated to Mr. Almakky and his team about three weeks ago, roughly two months after Mr. Sewing was named CEO, replacing John Cryan.

The changes are part of a broad reshuffling of top executives under Mr. Sewing, a German and a career Deutsche Bank employee who has moved a number of close colleagues into senior roles.

Mr. Almakky, who joined Deutsche Bank in mid-2015 from Bank of America Corp., is based in London and doesn't speak German, one of the people said.

A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman declined to comment about the strategy group and declined to comment on Mr. Almakky's behalf. The lender hasn't named a replacement for him or spelled out plans, if any, for a revamped strategy group.

Investor confusion over Deutsche Bank's strategy, and the lender's failure to make an after-tax full-year profit for the past three years, have fueled frustration and weighed on shares, and culminated in Mr. Cryan's ouster in early April.

A growing number of managers are leaving as the bank cuts costs and thousands of employees and pulls back from businesses in which it has struggled to make money, including parts of its U.S. investment-banking division.

In a move unrelated to the strategy group, longtime investment-banking executive Rashid Zuberi plans to leave, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Zuberi, who joined Deutsche Bank in 1996 and served as chief operating officer of the investment bank in 2015 and 2016, most recently has been global head of that division's financing and solutions group. The bank spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Zuberi's behalf.

Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)