Deutsche Bank has opened its new subsidiary in the Ukraine. With the ‘Open Joint Stock Company’ (OJSC) ‘Deutsche Bank DBU’, based in Kyiv (Kiev), the bank has expanded its central and eastern European franchise.

Reportedly, target clients include multinational corporations and small and mid-cap companies from Germany and western Europe as well as corporate and institutional clients in central and eastern Europe. The bank has said that the focus of the new subsidiary’s business operations would be on global transaction banking, which comprises cash management, trade finance and forex management. It has added that the investment banking activities are scheduled to be expanded over the years to come.

According to the Deutsche Bank, the subsidiary will be headed by Konstantin Seryogin, who was already head of Deutsche Bank’s Ukrainian representative office. The new subsidiary is being launched with 20 staff members and equity capital of apporximately E22 million. The bank has further added that by the end of the year 2009, it would like to increase the number of employees to 30 in Ukraine and plans to increase the number of employees to approximately 50 by 2012.

Jurgen Fitschen, member of management board at Deutsche Bank, said: “As part of our strategic positioning, our subsidiary in the Ukraine will strengthen us even more as the ideal banking platform for our clients’ investments, operations and market presence in central and eastern Europe. We believe there are opportunities for growth in the Ukraine, and in the entire region, and are therefore strengthening our network in the region.”