Jain, head of Investment banking, which is the most profitable business of the German-based banking giant.

Attributing to sources, the report said, "Ackermann appears increasingly opposed to the idea that the next CEO should be Jain -- the favourite of many shareholders."

The daily said that the senior ranks of Deutsche Bank are on the verge of "open warfare" as the process of finding a successor to Ackermann "degenerates into acrimony".

The German bank has not yet appointed a successor to Ackermann, whose contract runs until 2013.

Under German corporate governance, a successor should be picked by the bank's supervisory board under Clemens Borsig, its chairman.

Three top bankers and two shareholders accused Ackermann of seeking to hijack the succession planning process at Deutsche Bank, the report added.

Ackermann, who has headed Deutsche since 2002, has until now been a unifying force, bridging the cultural divide between its domestic heartland and its largely London and New York-based investment bank, led by Jain, the daily noted.

"Any lengthy struggle over the leadership issue could be detrimental to Deutsche's ambitions to build its business further in the US and Asia, and also create a distraction from legal issues facing the bank in the US, including a civil fraud suit brought by the Department of Justice," the report noted.