Few leaders in global private banking today have reshaped a franchise as profoundly, and as rapidly, as Claudio de Sanctis has at Deutsche Bank’s private bank. Since assuming full leadership of the private bank three years ago, De Sanctis has executed one of the industry’s most striking turnarounds.
Restoring growth, sharpening strategy and overhauling leadership, De Sanctis has positioned the business for its next great ambition: reaching €1 trillion in client assets.
This year’s private banker of the year award recognises not just the performance of a rebounding franchise but the vision and discipline of the individual behind it. As De Sanctis puts it, with characteristic frankness: “I’ve made a career out of turnarounds… this is the first time that I’m not being asked to take on a new mandate so that I’m here long enough to actually reap all the benefits of the work we’ve done.”
The private bank that De Sanctis inherited was a business with strong foundations but unrealised potential. Today, it is one of the standout divisions within the group. Under his leadership, the bank has delivered record client assets of over €645 billion as of the first half of 2025. Profit before tax rose by 50% year-on-year, supported by a six‑percentage‑point improvement in the cost‑to-income ratio. Meanwhile, net new asset growth has hovered around 5% – above many peers – despite flat overall banker headcount, reflecting a significant “clean‑up” of underperformers over recent years.
Nobody else can go to a client and say: ‘Let’s talk about your company and your private wealth as one continuum.’ We just have one conversation
Claudio de Sanctis
A central pillar of this transformation has been the strategic reorganisation completed under De Sanctis, most notably the unification of affluent and wealth management segments across all regions. This has brought scale and simplicity to the organisation, allowing it to behave as one global business rather than a series of siloed parts. “Putting that scale to work has definitely been a successful approach,” he says.
De Sanctis’s leadership philosophy is unusually sharp. He argues that values and track record are the two qualities that matter most. “I’m a people picker … track record and values are non‑negotiable,” he says. “You can make mistakes, but always with the right values.” His leadership team today is the product of decades of credibility built across multiple successful turnarounds, allowing him to attract high‑calibre hires from UBS, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and others.
One conversation
One of the structural advantages De Sanctis has doubled down on is Deutsche Bank’s Bank for Entrepreneurs and Global Hausbank models. These allow the private bank to combine global wealth management with a fully-fledged corporate bank to reach mid-cap companies and their principals in a way few competitors can match. “Nobody else can go to a client and say: ‘Let’s talk about your company and your private wealth as one continuum’,” he explains. “We just have one conversation.”
This approach has generated exceptional results across Europe. Italy, the UK and Spain – among the bank’s largest non‑German markets – have become standout performers, helped by decisive hiring.
The impact of this integrated model is evident across the bank’s financials. Revenues in Europe International rose 20% year-on-year, while investment revenues and discretionary solutions have delivered double‑digit growth across multiple regions.
Beyond organisational change, De Sanctis has led an overhaul of the private bank’s product and investment engine, ensuring the franchise can compete with the very best global wealth managers. The chief investment office organisation has driven a 66% surge in discretionary solutions, while deep partnerships with groups such as Blackstone, Partners Group, Apollo and DWS have helped create one of the most comprehensive alternatives platforms in Europe.
If you feel you’re done, you probably need to move on … I think we are maybe at half of our potential.
Claudio de Sanctis
Still, De Sanctis insists that the bank’s competitive edge will come from execution, and not just product innovation. “We have the right products – now it’s about getting even better at selling them,” he says. “This is where we will further increase the focus.”
On lending, Deutsche Bank remains one of the most sophisticated players globally, particularly among the more complicated, structured – and high-margin – deals. But De Sanctis has also sharpened the bank’s focus on Lombard credit – attractive for its capital efficiency and scalability – and has invested in the technology needed to elevate the platform to market‑leading standards.
The private bank’s ambition to reach €1 trillion in client assets by 2028 is bold yet, in De Sanctis’s view, entirely realistic. He sees a few levers driving the bank toward that goal. The first is the hiring of 250 new bankers now that the bank’s restructuring phase is complete, and the net new money they will bring to the bank. Second is a renewed focus on capturing assets under custody – a long-neglected area, but a promising route for conversion into assets under management. The third is sharper expectations for organic growth from existing bankers and clients, and more systematic tracking of this. “Combine these three, and we definitely see picking up on the pace of growth … the €1 trillion (in AUM) is absolutely achievable,” he says.
Despite the substantial progress already made, De Sanctis remains convinced that the private bank has only begun to realise its potential. “If you feel you’re done, you probably need to move on … I think we are maybe at half of our potential,” he says.
It is this combination of ambition, clarity and relentless execution that makes Claudio de Sanctis Euromoney’s private banker of the year. Under his leadership, Deutsche Bank’s private bank has not merely turned the corner – it has become one of the most compelling growth stories in global wealth management.
