FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board will meet over the weekend to discuss a successor for its chairman Paul Achleitner, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
Achleitner, one of Germany’s most prominent bankers, plans to step down in May after 10 difficult years that saw two CEO changes, billions of euros of losses and huge fines.
The European Central Bank has been pressuring Deutsche Bank to name a candidate so that it can have time to vet them and provide for an orderly transition.
Deutsche Bank has returned to profit, but remains under the close watch of regulators who guard the health of the global financial system, of which the bank, as one of the world’s biggest lenders, forms a critical part.
A spokesperson for Deutsche declined to comment.
Achleitner has long preferred that a current Deutsche Bank supervisory board member succeeds him, but the chances of an outsider taking on the role have grown.
That is because a leading choice for the job, Theodor Weimer, who sits on the supervisory board, is also chief executive of Deutsche Boerse. Regulators have said privately that they would not allow him to hold both posts at once.
A spokesperson for Weimer said his contract runs to 2024.
Achleitner, a former Goldman Sachs partner and Austrian native, has survived three shareholder votes to oust him.
In 2017, the bank was fined $7.2 billion in the U.S. for its role in the mortgage crisis, nearly toppling the bank.
Regulators have also fined and criticized the bank for lapses in controls to prevent money laundering.
In 2018, Achleitner installed CEO Christian Sewing, who has enacted steep cuts, including plans to shed 18,000 staff. The bank has invested in money laundering controls, posted five quarters of profit and received upgrades from ratings agencies.
Bloomberg News first reported the Deutsche Bank board meeting.
(Editing by Maria Sheahan, Elaine Hardcastle, Alexander Smith and Nick Macfie)
