Germany's Deutsche Bank has scrapped plans to set up a digital banking service in the US, says co-chief executive John Cryan.
In October Deutsche said that chief operating officer Henry Ritchotte would move on to a new role in charge of a digital bank.
At the time details were scant, with a statement promising an update on the plans at a later point, but the bank insisted that Ritchotte, who last year also took on the title of chief digital officer, was set to "assume a key role in refocusing" the bank.
Now, in an internal email seen by Reuters, CEO Cryan says the digital bank is off the table because it would have diverted resources from Deutsche's core strategy.
However, having committed EUR1 billion over the next three-to-five years to create "a more digital bank," Cryan says in the memo that "we are determined to implement several ideas generated by Henry and his team in our business divisions".