GERMANY - Axel Benkner, chief executive of Deutsche Asset Management in Europe, says the firm’s institutional assets under management should rise by at least one-quarter within five years.

This follows this month’s sale of its embattled UK business to Aberdeen Asset Management for up £265m (€384.8m).

DeAM decided on the move following a near implosion of the business caused by tens of billions of euros in lost mandates and an exodus of senior executives.

Benkner noted that the shedding of DeAM in the UK meant that institutional clients in Europe, the Middle East and Asia would now be served from Frankfurt.

“Between the London effect and growth in our in-house business, we expect to see our institutional assets rise to more than €100bn from €79bn in the next five years,” he told Die Welt newspaper.

Despite the €21bn in expected inflows, Benkner said DeAM had no immediate plans to hire new fund managers. He added, however, that this was a possibility in the mid-term. DeAM currently employs 190 fund managers in Frankfurt.

Benkner also admitted that he was “utterly surprised” by the resignation on July 1 of Oliver Behrens, DeAM’s head in Germany. Behrens is to join DeAM rival Deka as a new member of its management board by the end of the year.

“I am, however, optimistic that we will very quickly find a person who is renowned internationally for this position,” Benkner told the paper, adding that DeAM has shown in the past that it can “adequately” replace lost talent.

Benkner himself has only been DeAM’s European CEO since last December 6, when he ascended to the position as part of an executive shake-up at the asset manager. He reports to Kevin Parker, who has been head of Deutsche Bank’s global asset management activities for nearly a year.

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