Deutsche staff and prime brokerage unit to transfer to BNP Paribas - reports
Formal agreement set to be announced soon
Deutsche Bank is set to transfer up to 800 staff and its hedge fund-servicing prime brokerage unit to BNP Paribas in a deal expected to be worth tens of billions of euros.
A formal agreement is expected to emerge in the coming weeks with Deutsche's clients set to receive letters outlining the practical implications of the transfer, according to the FT.
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It follows a preliminary agreement announced last month, which was designed to "provide continuity" to the struggling German bank's clients and could boost BNP's presence in the lucrative prime brokerage space.
Deutsche's share price has fallen by around 35.5% over one year to 22 August with the bank reporting poor performance and losses in recent quarters.
The impending deal could see the French bank pay a nominal cash sum to Deutsche to take over the business, in a move that will see the German bank, which is cutting 18,000 jobs in restructuring plans, not have to pay redundancy to staff who switch over.
It was initially planned that the vast majority of Deutsche's hedge fund clients would also move their balances of around $200bn to BNP, but some clients have opted to transfer assets to competitors such as Barclays.
Barclays chief executive Jes Staley recently told analysts in call to discuss the bank's first-half results that is was "true that we gained some prime balances recently".
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The number of clients that are happy to make the switch to BNP will inform the total number of staff, most of which are based in London and New York, that will also be transferred.
BNP will also take on the underlying technology behind Deutsche's electronic equities and prime brokerage platforms as part of the deal, including the German bank's app-based system "autobahn", which is seen as one of the better platforms in the industry.
