With such a pedigree, Mr Achleitner is already being tipped to succeed Allianz's urbane chairman, Henning Schulte-Noelle.

ECONOMIST: The poacher as gamekeeper

Last month the insurer hired Paul Achleitner, formerly head of Goldman Sachs's Frankfurt office, as its finance chief.

ECONOMIST: Dresdner Bank

Instead, Paul Achleitner, Allianz's chief financial officer, an Austrian with a Harvard M.

FORBES: Schulte-Noelle Scores

Mr Achleitner, who has preached Anglo-Saxon shareholder capitalism in Germany with missionary zeal, is expected to make Allianz's financial and industrial holdings sweat.

ECONOMIST: Dresdner Bank

Changing Germany has been the focus of Mr Achleitner's career.

ECONOMIST: The poacher as gamekeeper

Alex Dibelius, co-head of Goldman Sachs in Germany, and an adviser to the Messer family, initiated talks with Paul Achleitner, his former Goldman boss, who was now a board member at Allianz.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Mr Achleitner's appointment has shortened the odds against a full merger between Dresdner and Deutsche, to which he also has close ties and which would offer the greatest potential for cost-cutting.

ECONOMIST: Dresdner Bank

The message Mr Achleitner preached was radical at the time in Germany: capital markets are eclipsing house banks as a source of cash and Germany is now a net importer of capital, so companies need to woo international shareholders by becoming more transparent and setting themselves tougher targets.

ECONOMIST: The poacher as gamekeeper