Deutsche Bank is mulling spinning off its retail banking business as it is under pressure from regulators to reduce debt levels and stop using consumer deposits to fund its investment bank.
The move is part of the bank’s new strategic plan due to be presented in the second quarter of 2015.
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The bank is reportedly considering selling a stake in Postbank, which was acquired by Deutsche in 2008, or spinning off the entire retail banking division.
The considerations are still at a theoretical stage and the bank has not yet zeroed on any final decision.
Germany’s financial regulator BaFin has restricted Deutsche from using the deposits of its retail customers to fund operations in its corporate and investment bank.
A sale of the retail bank unit would help the lender improve its leverage ratio, which increased to 3.2% following a 8bn share sale last year, but still lags behind some of its key rivals.
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By GlobalDataThe retail division of Deutsche Bank includes 12 million current account customers, five million savings account customers and 2,700 branches.
