Deutsche Bank's nice low-ego survivor has been cut, and it's emotional
James Davies has had a long innings at Deutsche Bank. He joined Deutsche in 2000 as a self-described «earnest young lawyer» in London, and he's leaving 24 years later after his most recent stint as chairman of the investment and corporate banks' American executive committee in New York.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
Writing on LinkedIn, Davies says his exit has unleashed, «a huge spectrum of emotions from grief to fear to liberation.» He adds that as everyone who knows him will know, he feels his emotions «very strongly» and that he now has," huge empathy for anyone who has been in my position."
The implication is that Davies was cut. He adds that few people in financial services get to choose the circumstances of their final chapter at a firm and that he is «no exception.»
Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
Davies has been in America since 2018, when he was moved to the US as head of the investment bank in the Americas. That role then went to Barclays veteran Anil Atluri in January 2023, when Davies was moved into the chairman position.
Before migrating across the Atlantic, Davies was a rising star in the London structuring world. His move to the US came as a surprise. «Davies is mostly a structurer,» one DB insider told us in 2018. «He doesn't know much about the U.S. market and he's not an expert on U.S. regulations. It seems very odd.»
Sources say that Davies was popular at Deutsche Bank because he's a nice low-ego guy who doesn't take himself too seriously and «presents well.» Another former colleague described Davies as, «One of the few half-decent people to thrive at Deutsche Bank.»
Writing on LinkedIn, Davies said he's too «young to retire» and that he's not clear what he'll do next. He
Read more on efinancialcareers.com
