Two years after rebranding Scudder Investments with the DWS name, the company is undergoing another brand change. Company executives unveiled the new brand, DWS Investments, at a press conference in Manhattan on Wednesday morning.

On hand to talk about the name change as well as a new website, tagline and strategy for the business were Axel Schwarzer, CEO of DWS Investments US; Philipp Hensler, managing director, CEO and chairman of DWS Investments Distributor; and Michael Colon, COO and director of retirement strategy.

The new logo that will accompany the new brand is “Reshaping Investing." This tagline reflects the DWS' new approach to the three parts of the new asset allocation challenge, which Hensler said are lower return expectations, higher volatility and predictability and consistency of correlation.

DWS' new strategy is a cornerstone of the new brand, Schwarzer said. DWS hopes to transform from a mutual fund company to a multi-wrapper absolute return manager. Part of this initiative is to focus on new products that are absolute return and outcome-driven.

Although DWS plans to develop new kinds of products such as structured notes as part of the new strategy, Colon said that it is still a mutual fund company nonetheless. "We are still committed to mutual funds as the wrapper," Colon said.

In that product vein, Hensler said that the company would be open to wrapping private equity type products into a '40 Act fund some time in the future.

A new website will help the company better communicate with advisors as well. The redesigned site will have a new level of interactivity with visuals, charts, diagrams, lists, audio and video, officials said.

This year, when some fund companies are trying just to stave off losses, DWS is predicting profits. Colon said that DWS' products are well suited to the current market environment and that the company predicts it will see net inflows at the end of the year.

DWS Investments encompasses Deutsche Bank's US, European, Asian, and Latin American mutual fund brands.  

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