As of today Deutsche Bank has killed off its DWS product brand and renamed all retail products in the Americas under the “Deutsche” or DeAWM brand, the latter of which stands for Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management. As reported by SRP, the German bank had originally announced the intent to change monikers last month.

Rebranded products include all DWS and RREEF funds, DWS-branded variable insurance portfolios, closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds which had used the “db” brand. Also undergoing the transformation and which will now reflect the DeAWM moniker are the former companies behind these products which include: DWS Investments Distributors, DWS Trust Company and DWS Investments Service Company.

“Renaming our products to reflect our integrated platform is the natural next step for our business, as we continue to expand our footprint and leverage Deutsche Bank’s global reach,” said Jerry Miller, Head of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Americas. “The Deutsche brand better reflects our platform’s global capabilities and our ability to deliver unique, holistic solutions to our growing client base in the Americas.”

The DWS brand name traces its roots to 1956 when it was known as its longer Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wertpapiern mbH, when the firm was founded in Hamburg, Germany. By 1999, the name had been shortened to DWS (Die Wertpapiern Spezialisten), which translated to “The Fund Specialists.”

In June 2012, after failed attempts by parent Deutsche Bank to sell off all or parts of its asset management business in the US, the bank merged its wealth and asset management business into a single unit. In 2013, then DWS Investments became part of DeAWM, a new business division.

On the structured products front, DWS Investments was one of the first asset management companies in the US to embrace and distribute structured products under the leadership of Chris Warren, head of structured products, Americas. In October 2011, Warren was relocated from New York to Singapore to spearhead the bank’s structured products initiative in the Asia region. Warren was replaced by Michael Tari, a former director at Deutsche Asset Management in the US.

According to the SRP US products database, Deutsche Bank has issued 277 structured products in the US so far this year, with nearly $1.9bn in sales. Last year, Deutsche Bank issued 283 structured products with total sales of $3.0bn.

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DeAWM to rename DWS investment products range