John Cryan, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, took aim on Wednesday at the ECB's decision to cut interest rates to historic lows, saying the central bank was doing more harm than good.

In a guest commentary for the English-language edition of Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper, Cryan expressed doubts about the impact of the ECB's monetary policies, which also include buying 80 billion euros ($90 billion) in bonds every month to reinvigorate the eurozone economy.

Cryan conceded the threat of deflation would have been far worse had the ECB not taken action, but he added that "companies are holding back due to the ongoing uncertainty with investments and are rarely requesting loans."

At 0.2 percent, inflation in the eurozone in July was still far below the ECB's target of just under 2 percent.

Cryan called upon ECB chief Mario Draghi to abandon his charge of bond-buying and keeping interest rates low. Some observers in the finance sector say indebted countries are less likely to reform their economies if they know they'll be able to raise money by selling bonds.

cjc/uhe (dpa, Reuters)