Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner backs Anshu Jain

Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen are doing an excellent job: Chairman

Deutsche Bank has backed India-born co-CEO Anshu Jain, whose name figured in an ongoing probe into currency manipulation, saying he is doing an "excellent job".

"The supervisory board stands behind the management board 100%. Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen are doing an excellent job. Since their appointment as co-CEOs, they have made a number of business decisions that have put the bank back on the right track," Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview.

"We have a strong management team whose efforts deserve respect. And we, the supervisory board, are there to provide oversight and advice," he said.

He said, "We remain loyal to our employees. People are still presumed innocent in this country until proven otherwise."

Jain became co-CEO of Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, on June 1, 2012. He and Fitschen have introduced a three-year strategy aimed at cutting costs and improving earnings.

Deutsche Bank is working through a list of investigations that have resulted from the global financial crisis.

Recently, it settled a 12-year legal battle with the heirs of media mogul Leo Kirch by agreeing to pay about 925 million euros.

Asked if the supervisory board is responsible for making appointments to the bank's top management positions, Achleitner said it follows and supports the work of the management board with a critical but constructive eye.

"It is also possible to assume responsibility by taking a critical look at yourself and facing the past, and in the process, instigating change," he said.

Frankfurt-headquartered Deutsche Bank said in February that Jain enjoys its "full support."

The contract of Jaipur-born Jain, who is the first Indian to head the 145-year-old bank, expires in 2017.

In January, the bank said it had suspended "at least one" currency trader and was cooperating with regulators in the global forex probe.

Some of the world's largest banks have paid billions of dollars in fines for rigging the London interbank offered rate, a short-term interest rate benchmark set by a poll of bankers, who give estimates for what interest rates they will charge or receive.