Deutsche Bank Co-CEO: Splitting Europe Banking Sectors Would Harm Customers-Report

Deutsche Bank AG co-chief Anshu Jain warned against splitting investment and retail banking sectors in Europe, because it would harm customers and lead to disadvantages for the European banking sector.

"This is a political discussion that is only happening in Europe," Mr. Jain said at a conference organized by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung in Berlin.

Splitting banks such as Deutsche Bank would create problems for customers, because it would create inefficiencies, Mr. Jain argued. He advocated instead to focus on implementing the latest banking regulatory standard, known as Basel III, which includes a set of international banking reform measures meant to bolster bank capital reserves.

The co-CEO also announced a restructuring of the investment banking business of Deutsche Bank, without offering any concrete details.

"We have announced this for 2013. It will lead to huge changes," he said. "This [is] not about cosmetic measures."

Mr. Jain said Germany's largest bank is ready for all economic scenarios in response to a question of whether the German bank is prepared for a possible collapse of the euro. He cited examples of slower growth in China and an increase in unemployment in the U.S. as other possible scenarios.

"There is still a lot of painful adjustment processes that must be gone through," Mr. Jain said.

Write to Susann Kreutzmann at [e-mail]