Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm DWS Group elevated several women to senior positions while others announced their departure.
(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm DWS Group elevated several women to senior positions while others announced their departure.
Andrea Rothmund is joining as head of human resources from parent company Deutsche Bank while Regine Schickentanz has been hired as chief IT architect from Deutsche Telekom, according to a DWS spokesman. The firm also promoted Jessica Hardman to run its UK operations, the spokesman said.
At the same time Cynthia Nestle, US operations head, and Kristina Theiss, US head of coverage, are leaving.
The changes at DWS demonstrate the struggles that Europe’s financial services firms are facing to make good on promises to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions. Deutsche Bank recently expressed regret over its failure to meet its own target to hand at least one-fifth of seats on its management board to women. Only one member of the nine-member body is female after another woman — Christiana Riley — was poached by rival Banco Santander SA.
Deutsche Bank Gender Gap Shows Europe Is Failing Diversity Test
DWS has seen two other senior female executives announce their departure in recent weeks, namely Americas head of ETFs, Fiona Bassett, and Chief Financial Officer Claire Peel. Bassett joined the London Stock Exchange Group as chief executive officer of the firm’s index provider FTSE Russell.
DWS’s six-member management board currently includes three women including Peel. The two others are Chief Operating Officer Angela Maragkopoulou and Chief Administrative Officer Karen Kuder.
One key responsibility for Schickentanz will be to help drive the separation of DWS’s IT from Deutsche Bank’s, internally known as Project Proteus, Maragkopoulou said in a memo seen by Bloomberg.
Rothmund is replacing Bjoern Pietsch, who’s leaving DWS after 28 years, according to another memo signed by Kuder. Pietsch “led from the front in globally rolling out” the project to replace corporate titles with functional ones, Kuder said in the memo thanking him “for his drive and commitment, and for always being an ambassador for our firm.”
Deutsche Bank’s DWS Weighs Return of MD Title After Staff Ire
(Updates with responsibilities of new hires in final paragraphs)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.