Deutsche Bank said to weigh sale of Indian retail biz

Deutsche Bank AG is weighing the sale of its Indian retail businesses as the German lender considers asset disposals to help boost capital levels, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The bank is also considering selling retail operations in European countries including Spain, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans aren’t public. 

The Frankfurt-based lender declined to comment. Chief Executive Officer John Cryan earlier this month announced a strategic overhaul that includes offering 8 billion euros in stock, selling part of the asset management business and raising 2 billion euros ($2.13 billion) of capital. While asset disposals are part of the strategy, Cryan stressed that they’ll play a minor role in the overall aim of boosting capital levels.

Deutsche Bank has previously sold parts of its India business. In 2010, it sold the mortgage business acquired as part of its takeover of German retail bank Postbank, and five years later, it sold its local asset management unit. The bank’s Indian business had Rs 69,300 crore ($10.5 billion) in assets in total at the end of its last fiscal year ended on March 31, 2016, according to company filings. It made a profit of Rs 2,340 crore that fiscal year. Deutsche Bank started its India operations in 1980 and now has more than 11,000 employees in businesses including retail and wholesale banking, investment-banking advisory and wealth-management services, according to its website, which also said that the lender has more than half a million individual clients.