(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG is again under scrutiny as Chairman Paul Achleitner seeks to replace Chief Executive Officer John Cryan, who is taking longer than hoped to turn the bank around.
After the tumult surrounding the news, Cryan has sought to calm the situation, writing in a memo to staff that he's “absolutely committed” to serving the bank and continuing the work he started three years ago. He did, though, stop short of repeating from previous interviews that he intends to serve out his full term. Achleitner, meanwhile, has been conspicuous by its absence on the subject.
Here's a look at the main characters in the latest Deutsche Bank drama.
Paul Achleitner
Current Position: Chairman of the supervisory board
Age: 61
Chairman of Deutsche Bank's supervisory board since 2012, he's also served spells as chief financial officer at insurer Allianz SE and head of Goldman Sachs' German office in the late 1990s. He shares a private Munich office with three equally powerful friends and his wife, who sit on the supervisory boards of some of Germany's biggest companies. As such, the Austrian is famous for his network throughout the C-suite in Europe's largest economy.
Achleitner is deeply involved in Deutsche Bank's strategic decisions, playing a key role in bringing in Chinese and Qatari investors as top shareholders and last year's decision to focus on its home market. That came after a crisis of confidence in the bank in 2016.
Some investors think Achleitner has been too patient with Cryan and are pressuring him to find a replacement. Others have said that he's as much—if not more—responsible for the bank's travails after burning through three CEOs in recent years. They extended Achleitner's term as chairman for another five years at Deutsche's annual shareholder meeting last year but, given the latest upheaval—and Achleitner's role in it—the next shareholder meeting, due in Frankfurt in May, could put his own performance under the microscope.
John Cryan
Current Position: CEO and head of U.S. operations
Age: 57
John Cryan was named CEO in 2015 to clean up after a string of governance scandals and operational missteps, having already served on Deutsche's supervisory board. He'd done a similar house-cleaning job previously as Chief Financial Officer at UBS. He quickly scaled back the bank's risk profile, strengthened less volatile business units and resolved many of its biggest legal liabilities.
But the failure to restore the bank to profitability and revenue growth have loosened his grip. Investors have increasingly questioned his ability to turn the bank around—the share price has fallen by nearly one-third since mid-December.
The lack of a visible turnaround has eroded the once good relationship between Cryan and Achleitner, according to people briefed on the situation. Cryan has irked his boss by being reluctant to meet some shareholders, and by angling publicly for more time to fix the bank. While many who have met Cryan are impressed by his intellect and charmed by his deadpan and humor, he's also gained internal critics for his public dressing-downs of the bank.
Marcus Schenck
Current position: Co-deputy CEO, co-head investment bank, member of management board
Age: 52
Schenck was hired as CFO from Goldman Sachs where he was serving as European investment banking services head and had worked in an earlier spell at Goldman under Achleitner. The M&A banker, a soccer fan with a hearty laugh, is the first German to lead Deutsche's investment bank since the days of Josef Ackermann. He's long been spoken of as a potential successor to Cryan, especially since his promotion to co-deputy CEO last year.
Schenck firmly supported the decision to shift investment banking away from global institutional clients toward corporate clients in Europe, people close to him have said. But he's also disagreed with Cryan, notably over bonuses. He won a partial victory on that front this year as the bank paid out more to key investment bank staff, which Schenck argues are needed to keep the revenue flowing. Several top investors, though, have questioned whether he should be CEO, arguing that he's partially responsible for the investment bank's weak performance.
Christian Sewing
Current Position: Co-deputy CEO, co-head retail bank, Germany head, member of management board
Age: 47
During a three-decade career that started when he was just 19, co-deputy CEO Christian Sewing has gradually worked his way through the ranks. He was appointed to the management board as head of retail in 2015 and co-deputy CEO one year ago.
Sewing won plaudits from Cryan for successfully negotiating job cuts in the German retail unit with the influential workers' councils, implementing the agreement on schedule and without a strong media backlash. He also headed Deutsche's internal probe into its role into alleged money laundering at the bank's Russian unit, which led to the bank shuttering its securities unit in the country.
As with Schenck, many analysts see him as a potential internal candidate for Cryan's job, though top investors say that he lacks investment banking experience. Sewing and Schenck present themselves as friends and share a passion for Bayern Munich. That chemistry may tempt Achleitner to recreate the co-CEO structure under Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, though that didn't end as well as the bank had hoped.
James von Moltke
Current position: CFO
Age: 48
James von Moltke's appointment last year as chief financial officer was widely hailed by analysts as a coup for the still-embattled lender. He was previously group treasurer at Citigroup, gaining experience inside a big and complex investment bank and global financial regulation. The German press also point to his lineage as the grandson of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a prominent dissident executed in 1945.
A dual U.S./German citizen, Moltke sees his mission to keep a strict lid on costs at the bank. He sided with Cryan in December in the dispute over bonuses, but ultimately voted with the rest of the board and Cryan to award what Cryan later called a “generous” investment. The soft-spoken CFO had largely positive headlines during his first year in office and investors who have met von Moltke describe him as highly competent and affable. Some analysts go so far as to call him a good CEO candidate, although investors also say he hasn't spent enough time at the bank.
But his touch deserted him momentarily earlier this month. Comments he made at a conference in London about the investment bank facing headwinds, triggered an 11 percent rout in the share price and raised questions about the bank's communications policy.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Geoffrey Smith
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