Saturday 20th November 2021
Let a Dutchman fix it
Deutsche Bank finds new chief controller
Deutsche Bank gets a new head of the supervisory board. Alexander Wynaendts is to be the successor to incumbent chairman Paul Achleitner. The Dutchman has an “excellent network,” says Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing.
The Dutchman Alexander Wynaendts is supposed to be chairman of the board of directors of Deutsche Bank. This was decided by the nomination committee of the supervisory body, as the bank announced. At the general meeting in May next year, Wynaendts should be elected chairman of the supervisory body and thus Paul Achleitner’s successor.
Wynaendts was head of the insurance company Aegon until last year. He took office in 2008, shortly before the global financial crisis broke out. The 61-year-old also sits on several supervisory and administrative boards, including Citigroup, the ride-sharing service Uber and Air France-KLM.
Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing said that Wynaendts has extensive experience in the financial sector and an excellent network, not only in Europe, but worldwide. He thus stands for what Deutsche Bank is all about.
Billions in losses and scandals
The bank also wants to add a second deputy head to the top of the supervisory board. In addition to the employee representative Detlef Polatschek, Norbert Winkeljohann should become deputy chairman of the supervisory board, it said. Winkeljohann has been a member of the committee since 2018.
Achleitner’s term of office expires in May 2022 after ten years at the head of the supervisory body. He has announced that he will not run for re-election. Germany’s largest financial institution has been looking for a solution for a long time.
In Achleitner’s two terms in office at the head of the supervisory body, losses in the billions were made due to risky business in investment banking, money laundering scandals and two changes of boss. Investors had tried in vain to saw off the Austrian three times. Above all, he is accused of incorrect personnel decisions. However, he is praised by investors and supervisors for the appointment of the current CEO Sewing, who is fundamentally reorganizing the institute.