Deutsche Bank Said to Be Ready to Select New Leader

Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann officially stepped down on Thursday, ending a decade-long reign as head of Germany's biggest bank during which he repeatedly courted controversy.At the end of Deutsche Bank's annual shareholder meeting at Frankfurt's huge Messehalle exhibition hall, Swiss-born Ackermann, 64, hands over the reins to his two successors, Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen.While for many, Ackermann personifies the arrogance and greed of the banking sector, in his 10 years as chief executive, he succeeded in transforming Deutsche Bank into a truly global player.

Writing in the Financial Times yesterday, Josef Ackermann – CEO of Deutsche Bank – argued that larger banks are not more dangerous to the health of financial system (and thus to taxpayers) than smaller banks.  According to him, system danger arises primarily from the degree to which banks are “interconnected”.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Outgoing Deutsche B

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Reducing the value of assets and lawsuit expenses pushed Deutsche Bank into a big and unexpected fourth quarter loss of €2.15 billion ($2.91 billion). The net loss for the October-December period compared to a €186 million profit a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a bare profit of €62 million.

The biggest German bank, Deutsche Bank, named Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain as co-heads Monday to replace Josef Ackermann from May 2012.Fitschen, 62 heads the bank's German unit, while Jain, a 48-year-old native of India, runs the core corporate and investment banking division.Deutsche Bank has had a leadership duo -- a management model widely seen as outdated -- before, although not since the 1980s, and it remains to be seen if this one will work, according to analysts.

Deutsche Bank will appoint on Tuesday an Indian investment banker and a German executive to run jointly Germany's biggest private lender from mid-2012, press reports said Sunday.Anshu Jain, currently head of Deutsche's investment banking division, will replace the Swiss Josef Ackermann as chief executive officer when he becomes supervisory board chairman, the Bild and Welt am Sonntag newspapers said.