Deutsche Bank Goes Full Tilt for German Retail Market

Deutsche Bank AG is on the hunt for more retail banking assets, as consolidation in the German retail banking industry steps up.

In an interview with Dow Jones today, Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said the bank was going heavy into retail banking in Germany, and indicated that Deutsche Bank was currently bidding on Deutsche Postbank AG.

Ackermann also said Deutsche Bank had bid on Citigroup’s German retail banking business, but lost out to Credit Mutuel, a French financial concern. Credit Mutuel outbid DB by more than 18%.

Reading between the lines, the consolidation accelerating in Germany clearly has Ackermann’s attention. He may say — as he did to Dow Jones — that Deutsche Bank will exhibit “price discipline” in any auction for a German bank, but assets are slipping away from him. The merger between Commerzbank AG and Dresdner Bank announced last week take out the No. 2 and No. 3 German banks. He has already lost the Citigroup unit, which sold for €4.9 billion. Now he faces the possibility of losing the bidding war for Deutsche Postbank AG. My hunch is Deutsche Bank will press its bid hard for Postbank, the winner of which will be determined on Friday. Otherwise, how else will Ackermann do as he says, which is grow Deutsche Bank’s retail banking in Germany? It certainly won’t happen organically. Not with all the consolidation taking place in the German banking arena.