Germany’s biggest bank is shaking up some of its top management positions as part of changes ahead of Josef Ackerman's departure as chief executive in May, media reports said, citing unnamed sources.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, is shaking up some of its top management positions as part of changes ahead of Josef Ackerman's departure as chief executive in May, media reports said, citing unnamed sources.

Among the key changes is that Michele Faissola, head of rates and commodities, will head up a new business group called asset and wealth management. This will include its existing private wealth management business.

The German firm did not reply to this publication’s request for comment or confirmation by the time of going to press.

Chief risk officer Hugo Bänziger and chief operating officer Hermann-Josef Lamberti will reportedly be asked to leave. Meanwhile, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, due to take over as co-chief executives from current CEO Josef Ackermann at the end of May, have presented their strategic plan to the nominating committee this week.

Lamberti and Bänziger will be succeeded by three new board members. Stephan Leithner, currently co-head of Deutsche Bank's investment banking coverage and advisory, will oversee the bank's legal risks and some areas of human resources. He will also be CEO of the bank's European operations, reports said. William Broeksmit will become chief risk officer in charge of managing the bank's risk portfolio, and Henry Ritchotte, currently chief operating officer of the investment bank, will take over the technology and operations aspects of the full bank as chief operating officer.

A vote on any moves by the supervisory board is due on 16 March.

At the end of last month Seth Waugh stepped down from his role as head of Deutsche Bank Americas. The bank will announce a successor “in due course,” it said at the time, and Waugh will remain in place during the selection and transition process, after which he will work with the firm in an advisory capacity.

Waugh has been a member of the group executive committee since 2009, and chief executive of Deutsche Bank Americas and chairman of the Americas executive committee since 2002.

Meanwhile, other changes are afoot at the German bank, which announced last November it was reviewing options for its global asset management business. It recently entered into exclusive talks with Guggenheim Partners over the following business units: DWS Americas, the Americas mutual fund business; DB Advisors, the global institutional asset management business; Deutsche Insurance Asset Management, the global insurance asset  management business; and RREEF, the global alternative asset management business.

Deutsche is planning to retain the DWS franchise in Germany, Europe and Asia however, which it views as core to its retail offering in those markets.