Crisis-hit Deutsche Bank pushes out British CEO

BERLIN

Trouble-plagued Deutsche Bank on April 8 ousted its British CEO John Cryan, replacing him with one of his deputies in a bid to get Germany’s biggest lender back on track after years in crisis.

Following weeks of speculation, the bank announced that German Christian Sewing, 47, would succeed Cryan who has been at the helm since 2015 with Sewing as deputy CEO and head of private banking.

“The supervisory board of Deutsche Bank has named Christian Sewing to the position of CEO, effective immediately, to succeed John Cryan who will leave the bank at the end of the month,” the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement, as quoted by AFP.

Deutsche Bank said earlier it was calling the surprise supervisory board meeting “to discuss the chairmanship and to take a decision the same day”.

Although Cryan’s contract was due to run until 2020, press reports in recent days suggested a rift over strategy with supervisory board chairman Paul Achleitner, who called the April 8 meeting.

The choice of Sewing over investment banking chief Marcus Schenck, who had been discussed as a possible successor to Cryan, points to a strategic shift toward retail banking in its home market Germany.

Sewing, who has been with Deutsche Bank since 1989, said Deutsche would pull back from areas where it was not sufficiently profitable.

He said he would analyze how Deutsche Bank wants to position its investment bank in a difficult market environment but left open what structural measures he could take.