British boss wields axe at Deutsche

DEUTSCHE Bank’s British chief executive made a good impression on investors yesterday as they cheered his plans to clear out the old guard and split the investment bank in two.

Yorkshireman John Cryan is desperately trying to boost profits and improve the reputation of Germany’s biggest lender following a string of scandals.

Deutsche has warned investors that it will post a £4.5bn loss in its third quarter results, which will be published on october 29.

The bank was fined £1.7bn earlier this year for rigging Libor interest rates. The case was particularly serious because the firm tried to mislead regulators, even destroying evidence to cover up its tracks. The fine resulted in cochief executives Juergen Fitschen and anshu Jain resigning in June, to be replaced by Cryan, 54.

as part of a clear out Colin Fan, co-head of the investment bank, and Michele Faissola, who runs the asset and wealth management arm, have quit. Finance chief Stefan Krause and Stephan Leithner, who previously ran the bank’s european business outside the UK and Germany, are also leaving.

It means that three out of Deut- sche’s eight board directors have been ousted. The investment bank will be split in two, with its sales and trading activities becoming part of a new division called Global Markets.

Cryan is expected to present further cuts to the investment bank and axe thousands of jobs at a strategy update on october 29. Shares in the Frankfurt-listed firm – which employs 8,000 in London – jumped 3.7pc yesterday as investors welcomed the restructure.

proFITS at uS investment bank Morgan Stanley fell 42pc to £607m in the third quarter as revenues from commodity, bond and foreign exchange trading dropped.