Deutsche Bank bosses resign in the wake of Libor scandal

The two co-chief executives of scandal-hit European banking giant, Deutsche Bank, have resigned.

Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain offered their resignations to an emergency meeting of the bank's supervisory board on Sunday, and their resignations were accepted.

The bank said John Cryan would become co-chief executive, replacing Mr Jain from 30 June. Mr Fitschen will remain in post until the annual general meeting in May 2016.

After that, Mr Cryan, who has been a member of the bank's supervisory board since 2013, will become the sole chief executive, the bank said.

The planned resignations, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, come after a series of scandals affecting the bank, including a $2.5bn (£1.7bn) regulatory fine in connection with the bank's part in the Libor rate rigging affair.

Libor, the London inter-bank lending rate, is a key interest rate in finance, affecting financial contracts worth trillions of dollars.

Deutsche is one of several major banks fined after traders were found to have manipulated the rate. Deutsche Bank is also paying $55m (£35.7m) to settle civil charges for allegedly mis-stating financial reports.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated the bank for the way it accounted for certain assets in reports filed during the financial crisis.

The SEC said it over-valued some of these and did not have sufficient collateral to cover potential losses. Deutsche is settling without admitting or denying the charges.

 'No confidence'

Deutsche Bank was the target of shareholder anger at its recent annual general meeting (AGM) in May, as concerns have grown over its disappointing profit growth, the fines, and its restructuring plans.

 Hermes Equity Ownership Services, which holds a stake of almost 5% in Deutsche Bank, called for management changes, with director Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt saying: "We no longer have confidence in the management board." At the AGM Mr Fitschen admitted: "We have not delivered, so far, the returns you expect and deserve."

In April, the bank reported that net income for the first three months of 2015 had halved to €559m (£407m), compared with the same period a year earlier. This is despite the fact that revenue rose by almost a quarter to €10.4bn.

bbc.com