Two weeks after Deutsche Bank gave one of its co-chief executives more power, the two Co-CEO have reportedly offered to resign, Reuters has reported. Deutsche Bank and its co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen have decline to comment on the resignation offers but sources said the bank is expected to appoint Jain’s replacement, John Cryan. Cryan is the former chief financial officer of UBS. The leadership crisis at Deutsche Bank came after investors and staff criticized its board for giving Jain more power. The offer to resign also takes place at a time that the bank is struggling to restore its image that has been tainted by regulatory and legal issues.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by industry analytics firm Coalition showed that the world’s 10 largest investment banks have posted a combined revenue of USD44.9bn in Q1, a 9% rise from a year ago. The survey also showed that investment banks made huge money trading in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) in the first three months of this year. FICC generated USD22.5bn in Q1, a 5% rise on a constant dollar basis from the USD22.1bn posted a year earlier. Equity businesses also posted higher earnings during the period, rising 20% to USD12.5bn. The rise in revenue, however, did not immediately translate to the increase in hiring. Data released by Coalition showed that headcount across all the investment banks it tracked has fallen by 4% in the first quarter. Among the banks tracked by Coalition are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS. – BusinessNewsAsia.com