GERMANY – Deutsche Bank has bought Dresdner Bank’s German custody arm for an undisclosed sum.

“Dresdner Bank is transferring its Custody Solutions unit to Deutsche Bank,” the two banks said in a statement, adding that more than 200 billion euros of assets under custody would be transferred.

“The integration of Dresdner Bank’s custody business into Deutsche Bank, which offers sub-custodial services in 23 countries, is a major step in further leveraging our business as custodian and securities administrator in Germany,” said Deutsche executive committee member Juergen Fitschen.

“With the pooling of the two areas, we shall become the premier provider of domestic custodial services in Germany.”

The deal covers settlement, custody and administration of mainly German securities and traded derivatives for national and international financial intermediaries such as banks, custodians and insurers. The deal does not cover Dresdner Bank’s private and corporate clients, or the mutual funds of its parent Allianz Group.

Deutsche recently sold its Global Securities Services arm to US-based State Street Corp. for 1.5 billion dollars.

“The transfer of the custody business is another important element of our ‘New Dresdner’ programme for the future,” said Herbert Walter, chairman of the board at Dresdner. Walter joined Dresdner earlier this year, from Deutsche, where he was global head of private and business clients.

Deutsche Bank will offer Dresdner staff the option of continuing to work at Deutsche. Troubled Allianz has cut almost 15,000 jobs to trim costs.

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