Josef Ackermann was ready to quit within weeks as Deutsche Bank’s chief executive rather than put the bank through a debilitating succession battle, it emerged on Thursday as Deutsche was forced to defend its supervisory board chairman over his role in trying to replace Mr Ackermann.

Deutsche’s intervention on behalf of Clemens Börsig came after he lost a board power struggle this week over his attempt to leave his non-executive role and become chief executive, people at the bank said.