Deutsche Bank Board Mulls Exit of Operations Chief Amid Reshuffle -- Update

By Jenny Strasburg

Deutsche Bank AG's supervisory board is discussing another potential executive reshuffle at the troubled German lender, including the possible departure of Chief Operating Officer Kim Hammonds, according to people familiar with the matter.

As of Wednesday morning, the bank's supervisory board was planning a conference call for later in the day with Chief Executive Christian Sewing, the people said. Mr. Sewing replaced John Cryan as CEO earlier this month following weeks of management tumult at the bank.

One topic supervisory board members were planning to discuss is Ms. Hammonds, an ally of Mr. Cryan who has been in talks about potentially leaving Deutsche Bank as soon as next month, the people said. No decision regarding Ms. Hammonds or her role had been made as of Wednesday morning, and it is possible that she could remain at the bank, one of the people said.

Ms. Hammonds didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman declined to comment.

Ms. Hammonds oversees technology and operations for the bank and is one of two women on its 11-member management board. She joined the lender in 2013 as chief information officer and global co-head of technology and was promoted to the management board in August 2016.

Fixing outdated technology at Deutsche Bank has been a core challenge during a multiyear turnaround that has featured multiple changes to the management board. Ms. Hammonds, who previously was chief information officer at Boeing Co., has overseen projects to simplify and modernize Deutsche Bank's systems, which Mr. Cryan and other senior executives repeatedly have described as long-neglected and hampering the lender's ability to compete in areas such as securities trading.

If Ms. Hammonds leaves, the bank could assign some of her management-board responsibilities to another board member, the people familiar with the internal discussions said. One possibility that has been discussed is for technology oversight to report into Karl von Rohr, a longtime Deutsche Bank executive and management-board member who is chief administrative officer, the people said.

With last week's CEO change, Mr. von Rohr was named one of two presidents of Deutsche Bank. Previously Mr. Sewing was co-president with Marcus Schenck, co-head of the investment bank

Mr. Schenck is leaving the bank next month. Former global markets chief and investment-banking co-head Garth Ritchie is now sole head of the investment bank and co-president of Deutsche Bank, with Mr. von Rohr.

Deutsche Bank's head of investor relations, John Andrews, is leaving the bank after five years, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Wednesday, citing an internal memo to employees from Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke. Fixed-income investor-relations head James Rivett has been promoted to the global role replacing Mr. Andrews. Deutsche Bank confirmed the contents of the memo.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2018 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)

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