DWS has reshuffled senior staff roles in the wake of its IPO earlier this year, creating a number of regional leadership roles.

The €692bn asset manager told staff this week of the changes, which involved grouping individual country heads into four regions: northern Europe, southern Europe with the Middle East and north Africa (MENA), Asia Pacific, and Germany and Austria.

In a note to staff seen by IPE, Thorsten Michalik, head of coverage at DWS, said: “This streamlined structure is designed to provide a more consistent global operating model that will foster greater communication between our various teams.”

Effective this week, Maria Ryan, head of UK, has taken on additional responsibility for the Nordic and Benelux regions, with head of Nordics Thomas Lindahl and head of Benelux Pieter Furnee reporting to her.

Michalik will oversee Germany and Austria. Sven Simonis leads the institutional business in this area, with Hagen Schremmer in charge of retail.

Manuel Faccio, previously CEO of DWS in Switzerland, is now head of southern Europe, France and MENA. Reporting to him are: Olivier Dubost, responsible for France and MENA; Mauro Castiligioni, head of Italy; Mariano Arenillas, covering Spain; and Pascal Imhof for Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Sandra Niethen has been appointed head of institutional and client strategy, including consultant relations and pension advisory services. She was previously chief of staff.

Michalik told staff that the changes were part of DWS’ “strategic ambitions” and were aimed at “creating an efficient coverage model that has clearly-defined responsibilities”.

Yesterday, DWS reported an 18% increase in profits before tax in the third quarter of 2018, compared with the previous three months. The group’s assets under management grew by €5bn, with market performance offsetting client withdrawals of €2.7bn.

This week the group also announced an extension of its partnership with Italian insurance giant Generali to provide unit-linked insurance products via Generali’s networks in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

The deal followed a partnership announced last week between DWS and French investment house Tikehau specialising in alternatives. 

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