Reports: Deutsche Bank May Sell Postbank In Revamp

(RTTNews) - German lender Deutsche Bank AG's (DB) executive board is in favour of a sale of the Postbank unit and also pare some of the company's other retail banking as well as investment banking assets as part of a strategic review, according to media reports on Saturday.

Deutsche Bank will reportedly sell Postbank via the stock market. Deutsche Bank has been struggling with the integration of Postbank and has been burdened by restructuring costs following the acquisition. Deutsche Bank acquired Postbank in steps for about 6 billion euros, starting in 2008.

Meanwhile, a majority on Deutsche Bank's executive board is said to be against the sale of the company's entire retail operations, as it would pose funding problems for the bank's remaining operations. Deutsche Bank may also sell some of its investment banking assets under the strategic review.

According to media reports, Deutsche Bank's executive board will make a final decision next week before recommending it to the supervisory board in a meeting on Friday, April 24.

A sale of Postbank would enable Deutsche Bank to raise capital, but would also mean loss of thousands of employees and branches. Postbank contributed about 12 percent to Deutsche Bank's pretax profit of 3.1 billion euros in fiscal 2014.

DB closed Friday's trading at $33.30, down $0.95 or 2.77 percent on a volume of 3.71 million shares.