“The successful sale of the US PCS business is a significant step toward the bank’s Strategy 2020 goal to become a simpler and more efficient organization,” said Fabrizio Campelli, head of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. 

“We will now concentrate on further building out our wealth management capabilities for ultra high net worth clients in the US, underlined by a series of recent senior appointments including Patrick Campion, who joined us last month as head of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management for the Americas,” Campelli said. 

Indeed Deutsche Bank has been expanding its wealth management presence in key US markets including on the West Coast and in Texas and Miami, FL. Steven Mattus also joined the firm from Credit Suisse last month as head of global products and solutions for the Americas region, based in New York.  

Now under the wing of Raymond James, the PCS unit will continue to operate under the name of Alex. Brown. The agreement was originally announced in December 2015, as reported here. 

“We will now be able to better serve our clients and grow our Americas business by focusing on a single distribution channel,” Campelli said. “We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Raymond James as a distribution partner.”
 
“This combination continues our focus on strategic additions to augment consistent organic growth while also complementing our core private wealth business in geographic areas targeted for expansion,” added Raymond James’ chief executive, Paul Reilly.  

Raymond James previously said that 193 advisors - or over 90 per cent of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management’s advisors pre-transaction - are joining Alex. Brown across 16 branches concentrated in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

The unit will be led by Haig Ariyan, its new president who formerly served as co-head of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management Americas. Ariyan reports to Dennis Zank, chief operating officer at Raymond James, and will work closely with Raymond James & Associates’ president, Tash Elwyn. 

“As communicated in the bank’s strategy 2020 priorities, the US is a key geographic region for Deutsche Bank’s wealth management business,” Campelli said when the deal was announced in December.

“This agreement will allow us to focus on our strategic priorities including investing in our US private bank, which has grown consistently over the last ten years by serving ultra high net worth clients through bespoke lending, trust, custody, banking and investment advisory solutions.”