German bank Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is dismantling its asset and wealth management division (LBBW AWM) and restructuring its asset management operations under new leadership.
The German lender said it will split LBBW Asset Management and the asset and wealth management business of Baden-Württembergische Bank (BW-Bank), a subsidiary of LBBW, into two separate and independent units.
The move comes just five years after the bank created the AWM division in 2020 to consolidate asset management and advisory services for institutional and private clients.
In a statement, the group’s board of management said it is overhauling the asset and wealth management division to further develop its two major pillars, LBBW Asset Management and BW-Bank, independently.
LBBW Asset Management, which manages €74bn in assets, focuses on Spezialfonds for professional investors – including pension funds – as well as direct mandates and mutual funds. According to the bank, pension funds represent its second-largest client group, after insurance companies and ahead of savings banks (Sparkassen).
In 2023, LBBW Asset Management launched a dedicated private markets unit in a bid to strengthen its capabilities in alternative investments. In total, the AWM division managed approximately €120bn in assets.
As part of the reorganisation, LBBW has appointed Karen Armenakyan as head of asset management. Armenakyan was previously head of the asset management and securities division at BW-Bank.
Armenakyan succeeds Uwe Adamla, who held a dual role as chair of the board of LBBW Asset Management and member of the managing board of BW-Bank. Adamla is expected to leave the bank by the end of the year at his own request.
“Uwe Adamla has built and shaped the growth path of our asset management in recent years,” said Andreas Götz, executive board member responsible for wealth management.
“Through his dual role, he has also succeeded in creating an even closer link between asset management and relevant sales units such as private banking and wealth management,” Götz added.
Earlier this year, LBBW reportedly commissioned an independent investigation following employee complaints related to management style at LBBW Asset Management. The bank confirmed that the investigation found no evidence of misconduct.
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