Extraordinary leader, partner and friend: Tributes to Anshu Jain

The first non-European head of Deutsche Bank passes away at 59

Tributes from global industry professionals and policymakers alike from Wall Street and beyond poured in for Anshu Jain, the India-born Cantor Fitzgerald president and former co-chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank AG, whose death at the age of 59 after a five-year battle with cancer was announced Saturday.

Jain’s untimely death was mourned by co-workers and former contemporaries alike, with much of the focus on his intellect and humanity, as well as his leadership.

“I have known Anshu as a schoolmate for 50 years since 1972. A few salient dimensions that come to mind, among many -- someone with very high integrity and a sense of fairness, multidimensional deep passions ranging from sports, geopolitics, love of wildlife, photography, making friends with smart people, and a desire to win in anything he did,” Rajeev Misra, head of the SoftBank Vision Fund and previously head of credit and emerging markets at Deutsche Bank, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

 “Deutsche Bank mourns the death of its former Co-CEO, Anshu Jain, who passed away in the early hours of Saturday at the age of 59 after a long, serious illness. Jain played a crucial role in the development of Deutsche Bank and was instrumental in building the company’s global capital markets business,” the bank said.

“Anshu was the consummate professional who brought a wealth of experience and wisdom to his role as President. He will be remembered as an extraordinary leader, partner, and dear friend who will be greatly missed by all of us and by all who knew him,” Howard Lutnick, chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report.

Jain was the first non-European to lead the German banking giant, appointed as co-CEO in June 2012, along with Jürgen Fitschen.

“He was diagnosed in January 2017, and through a combination of exhaustive personal research, tactical skill, amazing caregivers, and sheer force of will, managed to outlive his initial diagnosis by four years,” said his family.

“To his last day, Anshu stood by his lifelong determination to ‘not be a statistic’,” the statement read.

Jain, a wildlife photography enthusiast, avid golfer and Bollywood fan, was known in particular for catapulting Deutsche Bank into new trading and investment banking heights.

Jain, who was born in Jaipur in 1963, spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Delhi, attending Delhi Public School and Shri Ram College of Commerce.  

He subsequently went to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US, graduating with Beta Gamma Sigma honours in a Masters of Business Administration course.

After beginning his career as a derivatives research analyst at Kidder, Peabody & Co, Jain moved to Merrill Lynch, where he had a seven-year stint during which he established and then led the global hedge fund coverage group.

In 1995, Jain made the move to Deutsche Bank where he was given the responsibility of setting up the investment banking segment in London, his family’s statement read.

In the early years of the following decade, Jain became the head of global capital markets sales, over-the-counter derivatives, global credit derivatives and emerging markets.

Along with Michael Cohrs, Jain was appointed as co-head of the Corporate and Investment Bank in 2004.

“Anyone who worked with Anshu experienced a passionate leader of intellectual brilliance. His energy and loyalty to the bank left a great impression on many of us,” said Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank.

Following his elevation to co-CEO of Deutsche Bank in 2012, Jain oversaw strategies to increase capital, lower exposure and risk, and invest in technology.

"Anshu Jain played a key role in expanding Deutsche Bank's position in our global business with companies and institutional investors. Today, this is of strategic importance not just for Deutsche Bank, but for Europe as a financial centre," said Alexander Wynaendts, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank.

In January 2017, Jain was appointed president of Cantor Fitzgerald, working alongside founder Howard Lutnick. At Cantor Fitzgerald, Jain was tasked with expanding fixed-income and equities trading along with prime brokerage. Jain was the recipient of several awards, including Euromoney magazine’s Capital Markets Achievement award in 2003, the Risk Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 and the Economic Times Global Indian of the Year award in 2012.

In 2014, Jain was made an honorary fellow of the London Business School. TERI Technical University in New Delhi also awarded him an honorary doctorate.

“Anshu Jain, Deutsche Bank's ex-CEO, dies at 59. Very sad to hear this. Worked with him for many years. Will remember him as inspirational boss. Om Shanti !!,” tweeted Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.

Jain, who had described himself as an "Indian with a British passport who works for a German bank", said at the Jewish Museum's annual high-profile gala in 2014 that he had learnt a lot from New York's Jewish community when he first arrived in the city after completing business school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, agencies reported.

Jain, who supported animal welfare projects in India and South Africa, is survived by his wife and two children. 

With inputs from Bloomberg