Katherine Garrett-Cox, chief executive of Alliance Trust, is not merely facing one important shareholder vote in May. Six days after she goes head to head with the activist Laxey Partners at Alliance's general meeting, she will also face shareholders at Deutsche Bank, which has nominated her to its supervisory board.

Garrett-Cox has been put forward by the bank to succeed Sir Peter Job, a former Reuters journalist and later its chief executive, and serial non-executive at companies including Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline and Royal Dutch Shell. He will retire from Deutsche Bank's board on May 26, the date of the bank's meeting.