John Cryan unleashes his inner fighting spirit

The chief executive of Deutsche Bank, John Cryan, said in a memo to staff on Wednesday he was absolutely committed to the lender. The message came just a day after a number of news organizations reported the bank was looking for a new boss.

Reuters had said Deutsche Bank had been looking for a new CEO as investors had grown frustrated with the slow turnaround of the loss-making lender.

"Once again we're the subject of widespread rumors," Cryan said in the memo. "I just wanted to reaffirm that I am absolutely committed to serving our bank and to continuing down the path on which we started some three years ago."

He admitted that earnings had "so far not been what all of us would want them to be," adding that the bank needed to stay on task.

Sticking to the in-house strategy

"We need to focus on executing the strategy that was agreed and signed off by both the management and supervisory boards; there's no difference of opinion here," Cryan insisted.

News agencies had reported that Board Chairman Paul Achleitner had initiated the search to replace John Cryan.

"The fact that Cryan must write his own defense and doesn't get any backing from Achleitner is a sign of weakness for the CEO," Aramea Asset Management portfolio manager Florian Sauerburger told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Cryan has been criticized for falling behind in cutting costs. Deutsche is currently conducting a global review of its investment bank operations that could result in further cost cuts.

hg/jd (AFP, dpa)