The West Midlands made another significant step forward in 2007 in being a serious business location for big global businesses, with the decision by Deutsche Bank, the global investment bank, to set up offices in Birmingham city centre.
Deutsche Bank's plans for Birmingham are part of a global strategy which has created a series of globally connected operating centres to support the processing needs of the Bank. Birmingham was the 4th city to be run under what is known as the DBOI Global Services operating model, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.
The purpose of these centres is to provide Deutsche Bank with flexible choices on how to support business areas, i.e. business lines operating from London and New York can now use support services from DBOI Global Services. These support services are provided from near shore offices like Birmingham and Jacksonville (Florida), as well as off-shore offices in India and the Philippines.
While initially focused on the middle and back office support areas, the service centre concept is open to all aspects of the Bank’s operations.
The centre supports the processing needs of Deutsche Bank in the United Kingdom, which currently employs over 8,000 employees, although other sites around the world are always being considered in conjunction with Birmingham. Additionally, Birmingham will also support elements of the global operation.
A number of factors were considered when selecting Birmingham as the near-shore location to London for Deutsche Bank operations. The Deutsche Bank team evaluated the availability of talent in the local market, and Birmingham having a maturing financial centre certainly met that need.
Advantage West Midlands's inward investment team and access to finance team also played a key role in influencing the decision. DBOI Global Services’ significant Cap-Ex Investment was supported by a £1 million Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE) grant by the regional development agency. A further grant offer of £675,000 was offered to the bank in October 2008, bringing an extra 300 jobs to Birmingham; a total of 550 jobs by early 2010.
Martin James said “We received tremendous support from Advantage West Midlands when we were looking to set up a location in Birmingham. It was very clear to us that they wanted a global financial player like Deutsche Bank coming to the City.”
DBOI Global Services now occupies nearly 69,000 sq ft of space at One Brindleyplace. The Bank is expected to employ around 550 permanent staff at the new operational processing centre by early 2010.
In the West Midlands, the financial services sector employs 120,000 people and is still a provider of GVA growth in the region, notwithstanding the current turbulence in World markets
DBOI Global Services will join a comprehensive range of banking and financial services within the West Midlands: the generalist providers include all the key 4 British banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS-NatWest); mid-tier providers such as AIB, Bank of Ireland and NAB/Yorkshire Bank; also Investment Banks and specialist providers including N M Rothschild & Co, Islamic Bank of Britain, Arbuthnot Banking, Goldman Sachs & Co, and Unity Trust Bank.