Jain, an economics graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University, has been ranked at the second position in Financial News magazine's FN100 list of top investment bankers, which ranks people in terms of their individual influence on the European capital markets.

Jain is accompanied with three other India-born bankers on the list - Sanjay Patel at 31st, Suneel Kamlani at 59^th and JP Morgan's Viswas Raghavan at 90th positions.

While Jain has been on the list for three years in a row, Raghavan has also retained his 90th position during this period. Patel and Kamlani, however, have made it to the list for the first time.

"Jain remains the nearly-man in the FN100, being runner-up for the third year running despite a change at the top," the weekly said.

Publicity-shy Jain has been tipped as a possible successor to Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann when he steps down in 2010, it added.

Jain, who also captains Deutsche Bank's cricket team, helped raise profits at the corporate and investment banking division by nearly a quarter to 7.6 billion dollars last year.

The bank remains a powerhouse among European competitors, particularly in the fixed income division where Jain's traditional strength lies, Financial News said.

In 2005, when Jain was ranked at the second position in the first ever FN100 list, the magazine said he oversaw "Deutsche Bank's rise to become one of the most lucrative sales and trading operations in the world."