As one of the engineers of Deutsche Bank’s transformation into a powerhouse in global investment banking, Anshu Jain, 46, is often touted as a potential successor to CEO Josef Ackermann (see No. 3).
Nevertheless, the Indian-born Jain may well be quietly relieved that his boss has delayed his retirement until 2013, since that will give Jain plenty of time to distance his global markets division from its €7.4 billion ($10.9 billion) loss in the 2008 financial crisis. In the first nine months of 2009, revenue nearly tripled in Jain’s sales and trading operation, to €9.9 billion.
Although Jain was named to the bank’s governing Vorstand in March (along with three other potential Deutsche CEOs), rumors surfaced in June that he might go to Citi, and he wound up affirming his allegiance to Deutsche. A cricket lover, he will need the sport’s virtues of patience, persistence and fair play to land the top job in a competitive field.
