The nominating committee of the supervisory board is expected to consider many options, including adopting a co-chief executive structure that could pair Anshu Jain, an Indian-born executive who oversees the bank’s trading and transaction businesses, which can produce as much as 80 percent of the bank’s profits, with Jürgen Fitschen, another member of the bank’s management board.
Such a pairing would address a concern held in some quarters of Germany and inside the bank itself that Deutsche Bank should not appoint Mr. Jain as sole chief executive. The concerns have centered on his close links to the bank’s high-risk trading business and lack of fluency in German, suggesting he may not have the skills to represent Germany’s largest bank in its home market.
According to a senior executive at the bank who was not authorized to speak publicly, Mr. Ackermann has been eager to diversify the bank’s business toward less volatile areas such as retail banking and asset management. Such a move would take time, but it is one reason Mr. Ackermann may be reluctant to favor Mr. Jain as sole chief executive, even though many of the bank’s shareholders favor him.
The unscheduled meeting of the board was prompted by the news that Axel Weber, the former head of the Bundesbank, was taking a job at UBS. Mr. Ackermann, whose contract as chief executive goes until 2013, was an advocate of pairing Mr. Weber with Mr. Jain to address his concern that Mr. Jain was not ready to assume the more ceremonial aspects of the job.
Mr. Ackermann and Mr. Jain declined to comment.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/09/business/global/deutsche-bank-said-to-be-ready-to-select-ackermanns-successor.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
