Deutsche Bank to name von Moltke as new CFO: source | Reuters

FRANKFURT Deutsche Bank is expected to name James von Moltke as new finance chief, replacing Marcus Schenck who is taking on a role as co-head of the investment bank, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Von Moltke will join Germany’s flagship lender from Citi, where he worked as treasurer from 2015 after earlier looking after the bank’s financial planning and analysis.

Citi had hired von Moltke in 2009 from Morgan Stanley – where he had covered brokerages, exchanges and financial technology companies – to head its corporate mergers and acquisitions unit. He previously worked at JP Morgan.

Von Moltke is related to Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the Prussian general widely seen as the architect of Otto von Bismarck’s military victories in conflicts such as the Franco-Prussian war, as well as Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a German who led a resistance group against Adolf Hitler.

Von Moltke joins Deutsche after it has managed to put 15 billion euros ($16.3 billion) worth of legal headaches behind it and bolstered its capital with an 8 billion euro rights issue.

He will be tasked with helping it return to profitable growth, which has been hampered by low interest rates and tougher bank rules but also by the lender’s overly complex structure and reputational issues.

On Thursday, Deutsche Bank had said it more than doubled its profit in the first quarter, but its shares slid as it posted a decline in revenues and its securities trading business continued to lag U.S. rivals.

Last month, Deutsche Bank promoted Schenck and retail head Christian Sewing to co-deputy chief executives alongside bank chief John Cryan and said it would name a new CFO at a later stage.

Von Moltke’s imminent appointment was first reported by Bloomberg.

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Maria Sheahan)