Frank Witter, who retires from VW in June, has banking experience as the head of the carmaker's banking unit. Shareholders will vote on the nomination in May.

Witter replaces Alexander Schuetz, who came under fire for comments to the chief executive of collapsed payments company Wirecard. Schuetz said in a statement that his time on Deutsche's board was fun but that he looked forward to devoting his time to other activities.

Deutsche Bank's current chair, Paul Achleitner, has signalled that he will step down next year when his term ends. He has already dropped the oversight of the board's nomination committee that would take charge of the search for his replacement.

Theodor Weimer, currently the chief executive of the stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse , has been touted as a possible successor, people familiar with the matter have said.

Weimer told journalists last month that there had been "no discussion" of him taking the role.

(Reporting by Tom Sims and Patricia Uhlig; Editing by Madeline Chambers, Kirsti Knolle)