"We need pan-European banks. Or else growth countries like China, India, Brazil or Russia will leave us behind," Juergen Fitschen said in an interview published in Boersen-Zeitung on Saturday.

He said consolidation would be unavoidable in Germany. "We have to get away from the idea that it's possible and necessary to have a branch in every small town, especially given the rising use of online services."

Fitschen said Deutsche Bank was mostly in agreement with the proposals of a EU advisory group calling for a separation of banks' riskier activities from their deposit-taking business.

He said, however, the bank did not find proposals worthwhile to separate off market-making once it goes past a certain level and that such a move would impact Deutsche.

On the sale of BHF Bank, which Deutsche has twice failed to get past German regulator BaFin, Fitschen said he was confident a deal to sell the unit to buyout firm RHJ International (RHJI.BR) would go through.

"To the best of my knowledge, BaFin now has the full documentation," he said.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; editing by Jane Baird)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency