At first glance, the decision by Deutsche Bank to extend Josef Ackermann’s contract for another three years looks like an admission of failure by the bank to groom an obvious successor and a slap in the face to the internal candidates from the investment bank who have been jostling to replace him next year. Not quite.

Only three months ago, Ackermann bluntly rejected the prospect of staying on beyond the date set for his retirement in May 2010. The U-turn by him and the board would suggest that none of the internal candidates - whom we examined in detail in Financial News in February - were considered ready to take over.