The co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank – which was due to report financial results today – has said building a stronger presence in Asia and the US is one of the firm’s “top priorities”.

The co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank – which was due to report financial results today – has said building a stronger presence in Asia and the US is one of the firm’s “top priorities”.

Anshu Jain made the comment to the Wall Street Journal in an interview. Among his comments were that the long-term earnings potential of the bank’s wealth and asset management unit were underestimated by investors.

The report said the wealth-management strategy of Jain and co-CEO Jürgen Fitschen represented a “shift” from the bank's strategy under a previous regime, which had kept the different business lines separate and “largely unconnected to investment banking”.

The idea of ensuring close relations between corporate finance, investment banking and wealth management, particularly for clients higher up the wealth scale where functioning business interests are involved, is not novel. The likes of Credit Suisse, Citi Private Bank and UBS make no apologies for fostering such close links. This may be one of those issues that explain why there may never be a clear winner between the “pure play” private banking model and the under-one-roof integrated version.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said Jain had been “frustrated” when he took over the role to discover that while his investment bankers advised large companies on deals worth billions of dollars, the wealth-management team often didn't have contact with these companies' leaders. That has since changed with the Frankfurt-listed firm creating a partnership team in corporate finance to examine deals and selectively offer names to the wealth managements arm. The team boosted revenue by 160 per cent over 2013 to over $134 million.

The report noted that another team that manages 100 key clients offers sophisticated capital market investments to ultra high net worth individuals. It has increased revenue by nearly half in the year to date to almost €100 million ($134.4 million).

In its first-quarter results, published in late April, the bank said its Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management arm reported net revenues of €1.1 billion in the quarter, a 14 per cent drop from the same period a year ago, caused mainly by €159 million movements on policyholder positions in Abbey Life, largely offset by lower noninterest expenses.  Management fees and recurring revenues rose 3 per cent. Pre-tax income fell 23 per cent.   

In February, Deutsche Bank sold its trust business in Manila, Philippines, to BDO, the Philippine bank. That business covers trust, fiduciary and investment management capabilities.