What was that John Cryan said about excess riches?

Outlook

Deutsche Bank co-Chairman John Cryan speaks to the media at Deutsche Bank headquarters on October 29, 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany. (Getty)

John Cryan is fast becoming one of the world’s more quotable chief executives, but some of those quotes may start to haunt him. Regular Outlook readers may recall that in November I highlighted some rather pointed comments that the Deutsche Bank boss made about his colleagues in investment banking. Here’s one of them: “I sit on trading floors and wonder what drives people. I don’t fully empathise with anyone who says they turn up to work and work harder because they can be paid a little bit more... I’ve never been able to understand the way additional excess riches drive people to behave differently.”

It seems Deutsche’s supervisory board has taken him at his word. He and the rest of his senior managers will receive nothing in bonuses this year due to the bank reporting a €6.8bn (£5.2bn) loss. Rightly so, you might say. But what of Mr Cryan? While he said he respected the decision, he also moaned that it was not a “long-term strategy” and complained about board members being “structurally disadvantaged”.

In other words, despite making more in a year than many people earn in a lifetime, Mr Cryan and his colleagues are fuming because those just below them got paid and they didn’t. If you’re thinking of leopards and spots, and how they don’t change, you’re not alone.