All Sal. Oppenheim Group operations, including all of its asset management activities, the investment bank, BHF Bank Group, BHF Asset Servicing and Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners were transferred to Deutsche Bank.

As of the closing of the transaction the management of the Cologne-based private bank will be strengthened. Wilhelm von Haller, chairman of its management board, François Pauly and Wolfgang Leoni will be joined on the management board by Jurgen Dobritzsch and Jurgen Fiedler, effective immediately.

As chief financial officer, Mr Dobritzsch’s responsibilities will include finance and controlling. Mr Fiedler will take on the responsibility for risk management as the chief risk officer. Both worked in executive management positions at Deutsche Bank over several years.

It is intended that Pierre de Weck, member of the group executive committee and head of Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management, will assume the position of chairman of the supervisory board.

In the coming weeks the strategic realignment of Sal. Oppenheim will continue. The bank’s independent wealth management activities will be expanded under the well-established brand name of the traditional private bank, while preserving its private bank character.

Mr Weck said: “Sal. Oppenheim is well-positioned to serve its private and institutional clients as an independently operating bank. And it should stay that way. At the same time, we intend to grow further with Sal. Oppenheim and leverage its great potential to build on our market-leading position in wealth management.”

In conjunction with the strategic realignment, further sustainable reduction of risk positions and a strengthening of control functions within Sal. Oppenheim will be undertaken. Over the course of the year 2010, Sal. Oppenheim will discontinue its investment banking activities. As previously announced, the equity trading & derivatives and capital markets sales units will be taken over by Macquarie.

BHF-Bank will be managed as a stand-alone unit while Deutsche Bank will examine various strategic options with BHF-Bank. The agreed sale of BHF Asset Servicing to BNY Mellon is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010.

At the end of the year 2009, Sal. Oppenheim Group had assets under management totalling EUR137bn.