Dresdner mulls acquisitions in drive for rich

By John O'Donnell

GENEVA (Reuters) - Dresdner Bank (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) wants to do more business with well-off customers as it mulls acquisitions to beef up its wealth-management arm, one of the bank's executives told Reuters on Wednesday.

Dresdner already manages roughly 100 billion euros for its wealthy customers -- defined as those with assets of between 750,000 euros ($950,000) and 30 million euros to invest.

Now the Frankfurt-based lender is aiming to beat the market with annual growth of up to 9 percent and it is open to making acquisitions to expand.

"We want to grow in our two home countries (Germany and United Kingdom)," Anton Simonet, head of Dresdner's private wealth management business, said at a Reuters Wealth Management Summit.

"We want to grow in cross border areas."

He predicted between 8 and 9 percent growth compared to the average of about 6.

"You have to talk to the people," he added, commenting on potential takeovers. "You cannot say if there's an acquisition coming, you throw it away."

Like other parts of the bank, Simonet is looking to sell customers the insurance products of Dresdner owner Allianz.

Allianz has hacked away billions of euros of overheads at Dresdner since buying it more than four years ago in a 24-billion-euro deal.

Dresdner, which had about 45,000 staff about five years ago, today employs fewer than 30,000 after heavy losses.

Wealth management, as one of the most rapidly growing areas in financial services, offers a more attractive opportunity to grow than the overcrowded German retail banking market.