Just over two years ago, Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm eliminated the managing director title.
(Bloomberg) — Just over two years ago, Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm eliminated the managing director title.
Frustration over the policy that dispensed with some corporate designations at Frankfurt-based DWS Group means management is now considering bringing them back, according to people familiar with the matter.
Chief Executive Officer Stefan Hoops is weighing whether once to again to allow staff to use titles like ‘managing director’ and ‘director’ to describe their rank, for example on business cards, the people said, asking not to be named discussing the private matter.
DWS is in the early stages of deliberations and a decision isn’t expected in the near term, the people said.
Deutsche Bank, which owns about 80% of DWS, never replicated the policy. Becoming a managing director is still a coveted career highlight for many of the lender’s executives.
Among criticism expressed with the policy at DWS was a feeling that it had slowed career progression and sowed confusion about seniority, the people said.
A spokesman for DWS declined to comment.
The policy was put in place by ex-Chief Executive Officer Asoka Woehrmann and human resources head Bjoern Pietsch in early 2021 as a way to flatten hierarchies.
Read More: DWS Staff Complaints Show UBS That Scrapping Titles Isn’t Easy
Few other financial services firms followed suit, though UBS announced a few months after the DWS decision that it was going to discontinue all corporate ranks above managing director, starting in 2022. The move was part of an effort under then-CEO Ralph Hamers to simplify the bank. It’s unclear whether it will remain under successor Sergio Ermotti.
The DWS discussion highlights the emotional attachment many executives have to rank. Annual announcements of who made managing director are highly-watched events at some investment banks, with Bank of America Corp. saying in a memo last year that the latest recipients of the title have achieved “a new level of leadership, dedication and contribution.”
Instead of corporate titles, DWS now uses functional titles such as “head of” to describe someone’s actual responsibilities, rather than their position on the corporate ladder.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.