Deutsche Bank's boss is under immense pressure from several key shareholders in the German lender.
The first to voice their displeasure were Chinese and Qatari shareholders (in German), but now no less than ten considerable Deutsche Bank shareholders have banded together. They are giving John Cryan, who has run the battered Frankfurt-based bank alone for a little over one year, an ultimatum, several media outlets including news agency «Bloomberg» reported.
Shareholders are agitated over Deutsche's weak results – despite the fact that Cryan has settled several major regulatory probes and is in the midst of a wide-ranging turnaround. The investors, who largely remain anonymous, threaten to replace the CEO, a former investment banker and finance chief at UBS, if the bank doesn't show better results by its shareholder meeting in May.
Rebellion Without Banners
Their anonymity indicates that Deutsche Bank's largest shareholders are prepared to dent trust in the bank and its 56-year-old CEO – which Cryan will find it difficult to recover from. He also has trouble at home: the «Wall Street Journal» (behind paywall) reported this week that Deutsche chairman Paul Achleitner is unhappy with Cryan for ducking meetings with new major shareholder HNA, a Chinese conglomerate.
Cryan has no quick fix: his turnaround program is just six months old, and market watchers expect a miserable third-quarter result in trading, to which Deutsche is still heavily exposed.
