Portrait of the curator as a bank employee Frame game: Friedhelm Hütte, pictured with a detail of "Biotin-Maleimide" by Damien Hirst, oversees more than 56,000 works It is unusual to feel utterly indecorous when discussing finances with an employee of an investment bank. However, this is the effect that Friedhelm Hütte has on me when I ask about money. It is a straightforward question. Does he know the value of the art collection he presides over as global head of Deutsche Bank Art? Yes, of course I know. Can you tell me? He squidges up his face and laughs. After much squirming (on both our parts), he concedes it is a "three-figure million amount," and that the most valuable works in the collection are by Kandinsky and Klee. It is clear that he finds commoditising art distasteful. Vulgar it may be, but artworks owned by companies are valuable - as illuminated in 2010 when Commerzbank sold a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, "Walking Man 1," that it had acquired in its takeover of Dresdner Bank, and the collections of the two German banks were merged. The bronze sold for £65m, a world record for a piece of art sold at auction. It is not only on money matters that 55-year-old Mr Hütte, originally from Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia, differs from most of the bank's other employees. He also looks different. His curly hair is a bit bushy, he has long, slightly unkempt sideburns and his pinstripe suit is made of velvet, not woollen worsted. Nonetheless, he is a faithful employee, having been in the same job (though one that has changed hugely) for more than two decades - last year he celebrated his 25th anniversary at the bank. The history of art graduate oversees one of the biggest art collections owned by a company in the world. There are more than 56,000 art works in 900 locations. The bank sponsors art fairs in New York, Hong Kong and London, such as Frieze. Mr Hütte fell into the job after a rival employee at his previous workplace pointed him in the direction of a marketing job at Deutsche Bank in the hope that he would leave and she would obtain the promotion the two were fighting for. At the interview, the head of marketing glanced at his CV, spotted his degree and mentioned the bank was looking for someone to fill an "art job." He was offered a choice: a job in marketing or working with the collection. It took him "nanoseconds" to decide on the art job. "Secretions" by Tony Cragg As the only member of staff looking after the collection, which then numbered 2,000 pieces, he did everything: "placing the art works, writing text, doing guided tours." The purpose of the collection was to buy art for the enjoyment of all employees and the bank's clients, not just the preserve of a few, restricted to the senior management's offices. Initially, the collection concentrated on the art of Germany and Austria, including such artists as Egon Schiele and Franz Marc. At the end of the 1970s the bank decided to concentrate on contemporary art, although the emphasis remained on German artists, including Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz. This evol­ved in the 1990s as globalisation transformed the bank and it recruited overseas staff and set up foreign bases. The collecting policy mirrored its international outlook and now Mr Hütte has a team of 10 based in New York, London and Frankfurt, as well as freelance advisers. One of the highlights of the job is meeting artists in studios - Mr Hütte prefers building relationships with them and galleries to buying at auction. He recalls with fondness being cooked for by Neo Rauch in his Leipzig studio. Nick Orchard, head of corporate collections for Europe at Christie's, says company art collections fall into two categories. The first are those that "have a clear vision of approach, logical themes, dedicated curators or advisers." The second are more sprawling and old-fashioned. "Collections formed by top management and bought according to [individuals"] taste, then someone new comes in and adds to it. These are idiosyncratic, some are very unusual. It is how companies used to operate - the top were less answerable to employees and shareholders. A good curator is one that creates an art collection for "the benefit of the public, clients and staff," he says. These categories don't always cross over. However, he adds that they do in Deutsche Bank's case. Mr Hütte, who paints watercolour landscapes when on holiday, says the purpose of the collection is to "make a contribution to the company and society." He is passionate about his work, insisting: "Art is not an extra, a luxury. It's really an essential part of the bank. He also volunteers figures on the bank's commitment - in 2010 the company invested €21.1m in art and music. There is no pressure on him to buy art as an investment. Normally the artists the art committee [a diverse group that includes a member of the board] chooses are at the beginning of their career. No one can tell what will happen to them in 15-20 years. Nonetheless, he is proud of his team's ability to spot talent. On a tour of the bank's airy London office, he points to a Damien Hirst dot painting and a large silvery sculpture by Anish Kapoor. Both, he says, would today be beyond his budget. Though he regrets not buying a major work by Blinky Palermo from the 1960s. In any case, creating an art fund is not always wise for a company. In the mid-1970s, British Rail Pension Fund put 2.5 per cent of its portfolio into art, amassing a diverse collection ranging from Chinese porcelains to African tribal art. It gradually sold off the collection from the late 1980s and did not repeat its art investment, because it said it could get stronger returns from other investments. The downturn has made little impact on Mr Hütte's work, however, though "some decisions have to be justified more intensely than before." When contemplating an acquisition, for him the most important question remains: "Is it good art? And does it fit with our collection?