DWS Investments has hired a troika of equity structured product officials and market watchers said this means the retail asset management arm of Deutsche Bank with over EUR140 billion under management is likely to launch a structured product business.
The three hires are fromABN AMRO: Stephan Kunze, head of private investor products marketing at the Dutch house in London, along with Henrik Takkenberg, European head of PIP marketing, and Karl Strobl, head of equity structured trading. Strobl, reached by cell phone, referred calls to DWS. Takkenberg and Kunze could not be reached. Jezz Farr, spokesman for DWS at Deutsche Bank in London, did not return messages. Adrian Rimmer, spokesman for ABN in London, confirmed the trio is heading to a fund manager, declined to name the firm.
Market officials said DWS seems to be following several fund managers, such as Henderson Global Investors (DW, 6/20/04) and Schroder Investment Management, which have also set up structured product businesses. Structuring products in-house means fund managers save on costs compared to buying either off-the-shelf structures from dealers or buying derivatives to make up the structured product themselves.
DWS' coup has been to secure a sellside power house team, noted one sales official at a bulge-bracket firm. Fund managers have not been willing to pay investment banking salaries and this has accounted for the skills gap between fund managers' efforts and equity derivative houses, he added.
The departures are seen as a blow for ABN AMRO, which has made several hires in recent months (DW, 6/3). "It's arguably one of the better platforms out there," said one structured products market watcher. Rimmer said Thomas Winkler, country head of Switzerland, will take on full responsibility for the sales group. Takkenberg will be replaced by Gijs Kaars Sijpesteijn, previously head of PIP marketing for the U.S., and Andrew Greaves, global head of quantitative analytics, will add Strobl's role in addition to his existing job. Chris Warren, a senior member of the PIP marketing team in the U.S., will take over from Sijpesteijn.
