Hard questions loom for the new bosses of Germany’snational banking champion
德国最大银行的新总裁们面临着隐隐出现的棘手问题
Dual passports
双重护照
IN THE entrance to Deutsche Bank’s London office is a giant silver ball with a hole in the middle thatoffers an inverted reflection of the viewer and bank. The sculpture, which is called “Turning theWorld Upside Down III”, is a fitting metaphor for the changes sweeping the banking industry.Deutsche itself has had a good crisis, eschewing direct help from the German government andrebuilding its balance-sheet to regain its place as the biggest bank in Europe by total assets. Yet itsworld is turning upside down, too.
The most obvious upheaval is in the executive suite. On June 1st two new co-chief executives,Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, will take over from Josef Ackermann, who has run the bank for adecade. Mr Fitschen, the boss of Deutsche’s German operations, is a far less controversial figurethan Mr Jain, an Indian-born, American-educated British citizen who has propelled Deutsche’s rise ininvestment banking. Mr Jain’s elevation is a remarkable one in a corporate culture as crusty asGermany’s: most bosses are either German or native German-speakers from Switzerland orAustria. His appointment has also provoked a backlash from an “old guard” within Deutsche whofear the growing influence of the investment bank, which is based almost entirely in London and isstaffed largely by non-Germans.
Yet the focus on Mr Jain is a distraction. The bank’s biggest task is not to convince investors that ithas the right executives in place—big investors and fund mangers see the new team as moreshareholder-friendly than the old one. It is to prove that it has enough capital and liquidity to satisfyregulators and that it can adapt its business model to a topsy-turvy landscape.
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