Deutsche Bank Team

I know several people who currently work at Deutsche Numis, and the consistent feedback is that the franchise still operates quite separately from the rest of Deutsche Bank.

Historically, the Numis and wider DB teams were based in different buildings. Since last year, they have been brought together under one roof, but they remain on separate floors. The intention was presumably to improve integration between the teams and cultures, but from what I have heard, this has not really happened. Deutsche Numis still has a distinct culture and generally keeps different working patterns, including arriving earlier than the traditional DB teams.

Organisationally, Deutsche Numis is now positioned as the UK Investment Banking team. It does occasionally collaborate with DB’s broader EMEA industry teams, particularly on UK mandates. However, the dynamic is generally that the EMEA sector teams support Deutsche Numis on UK deals, rather than Deutsche Numis bankers being regularly staffed on the wider EMEA teams’ mandates.

The most important point for analysts is that Deutsche Numis is currently doing very little genuine M&A execution. UK M&A work is largely handled by Deutsche Bank’s EMEA M&A team. At Deutsche Numis, the junior experience is therefore much more heavily weighted towards corporate broking, UK ECM and listed-company advisory.

You may have some exposure to UK M&A mandates and collaborate with the relevant sector or M&A teams, but you are unlikely to own much of the modelling or the core execution mechanics. In practice, you may contribute company or market knowledge without getting the same end-to-end transaction experience that you would receive in a dedicated M&A or EMEA industry team.

There has also been significant attrition across the platform, particularly over the past six months. The UK FIG team has lost several junior and mid-level bankers, including a long-standing VP who moved into asset management, an analyst who lateralled elsewhere and an AS2 who went on a long-term sabbatical. There have also been associate departures from Business Services and Industrials.

The Consumer team experienced particularly heavy turnover last year, with much of the team leaving. More broadly, a number of stronger Deutsche Numis analysts have lateralled either into DB’s EMEA M&A team, other EMEA industry teams or external firms.

This has also affected senior leadership. Alex Ham left last year, and the head of UK M&A subsequently announced his departure.

Overall, I would not currently describe Deutsche Numis as one of the strongest places within DB for an analyst or summer analyst seeking traditional investment-banking execution experience. It may still be attractive for someone specifically interested in UK corporate broking, public markets, ECM and listed-company advisory. However, anyone primarily looking for modelling-heavy M&A experience and broader cross-border deal exposure would likely be better placed in DB’s EMEA M&A team or one of its main EMEA industry groups.