Josef Ackermann to leave Deutsche Bank in 2010
Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, plans to leave the bank when his contract ends in 2010.
Ackermann, who turns 59 next month, told Der Spiegel during an interview that he had always planned to end his “active career” by age 62 at the latest. His comments were confirmed to Bloomberg News on Saturday by Klaus Thoma, a spokesman in Frankfurt for the bank. Ackermann said he might go on to work at a university or elsewhere in the public sector.
Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board a year ago extended Ackermann’s contract until 2010. Ackermann, a Swiss executive who became chief in 2002, turned the lender into one of the world’s five biggest trading firms. The bank’s security unit accounts for more than half of the lender’s pretax profit.
Ackermann said during an interview with Bloomberg News last week that Deutsche Bank had a “very good” pipeline and predicted a financial lift from its dealings with China and India.
In the German magazine article, Ackermann said a chief executive should not join the supervisory board after leaving the management board. The comment suggests he has no plan to join Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board in 2010.
The bank is among a group of investors that plans to buy a stake in European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent of Airbus. Ackermann told Der Spiegel he wanted to protect key German industries from foreign control. — Kenneth Wong
