Official announcement on Deutsche Bank CEO soon

Amid strong indications that Anshu Jain will become the joint CEO of Deutsche Bank together with his management board colleague Jurgen Fitschen, bank sources have disclosed that an official announcement on incumbent Josef Ackermann’s successor is expected in the coming days.

An “orderly selection process” for a successor to Mr Ackermann, 63, who retires in May 2013, after nine years in office, is still continuing and an announcement on the new leadership will be made shortly, sources told PTI without elaborating on the ongoing discussions at the supervisory board level.

Media reports said a majority of the 20-member supervisory board is in “broad agreement” on the Jain-Fitschen combination proposed by Chairman Mr Clemens Boersig after a meeting of the bank’s nominating committee on Sunday.

The board members preferred this model over a rival proposal by Mr Ackermann to put Mr Jain and management board member Mr Hugo Baenziger at the helm of Germany’s largest bank.

Like Mr Ackermann, Mr Baenziger is a Swiss national.

Mr Jain, who heads Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division based in London, continued to be at the centre of all options being considered and a main focus of the succession drive is to ensure that the India-born investment banker becomes the new boss of the Frankfurt-based bank, the reports said.

One earlier proposal was to nominate Mr Jain as the sole head of the financial institution while Mr Ackermann moves into the supervisory board so that he can continue to carry out high-level networking in German politics, a skill which London-based Mr Jain lacks.

However, this plan fizzled out after Mr Ackermann decided not to join the supervisory board.

Mr Jain and Mr Fitschen, 62, teaming up together to take over the reins of the world’s fifth largest investment bank is the most likely scenario, the reports said.

Supporters of Mr Jain argue that this is an “ideal transitional arrangement”, opening the way for him to take over as the sole chairman of the management board when Mr Fitschen retires after reaching 65.

It is hoped that Mr Fitschen, who has good contacts to the centres of power in Berlin, can carry out the lobbying work until Mr Jain builds up his political contacts to match the stature of the bank and improves his ability to communicate in German.

Deutsche Bank sources told PTI no decisions have been taken at this stage and all these reports are “mere speculations’’.

They could not confirm or deny reports that the next meeting of the supervisory board scheduled for July 25 will be advanced to bring to an early end speculation about a successor for Mr Ackermann.

The supervisory board has ten members each from the side of shareholders and employees.

While Mr Jain enjoys the support of both sides, there are still doubts among some board members whether Mr Fitschen is the ideal candidate, the reports said.