Deutsche Bank boss John Cryan is a veteran of the City of London. All the more unusual to hear his views of his adopted home – Frankfurt – as it makes a play for London's business.
John Cryan worked in the City of London as an investment banker first for SG Warburg, which pioneered the eurobond and first advised a hostile takeover.
A respected Cambridge-educated financial institutions investment banker, Cryan stayed when UBS bought the British investment bank in 1995. His early career exemplifies the role of the City of London's role at the heart of European finance.
Unusual then to hear Cryan launch a cri de coeur on behalf of his adopted home, Deutsche Bank, where he has been chief executive for two years.
«Not If, But How Much»
Frankfurt is among several major European cities seeking to grab finance business and jobs from the City of London after Britain opted out of the European Union last year.
«The interesting question is not which cities in Europe will attract finance jobs, but how much of it Frankfurt will get,» Cryan told an audience of Frankfurt bankers at an annual «Handelsblatt» finance conference.
Brexit as German Boost
Cryan, who speaks fluent German, has lived in Frankfurt for two years, but maintains homes in the U.K. and in the U.S. He recently described to a German broadcaster how he "just landed somehow" in banking.
The German finance city is the only in Europe with the necessary infrastructure including supervisors, legal specialists and consultants, he argued.
Brexit could be a major economic boost for Germany's economy, Cryan argued, but Frankfurt and the state of Hessen have to seize the day.
Theaters, Restaurants Needed
Germany needs more attractive urban housing, international schools, theaters and «several hundred restaurants» as well as a tighter network of providers to the banking industry, he said.
«We have to decide now whether we want to pursue the path – if we want to become the European Union's number-one financial center.»
