Deutsche Bank names Alexander Weinandts as next president

Mr Wayandts, a 61-year-old Dutchman, was the chief executive officer of Dutch insurer Aegon NV for 12 years until 2020. He began his career at lender ABN AMRO NV, where he spent 13 years in private and investment banking in Amsterdam. and London, Deutsche Bank said in a statement on Friday.

Mr. Wynends currently holds Citigroup Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and sits on the board of Air France-KLM. The statement said he would step down from Citigroup.

He will succeed longtime chairman Paul Echleitner, who has headed the company’s supervisory board for nearly a decade. Mr Achletner’s tenure as chairman coincides with a long period of poor performance, strategic uncertainty and management turmoil at the bank. Mr. Achletner has overseen four different CEOs.

Deutsche Bank shares have fallen more than 50% since Mr Achleitner became chairman, largely weighed down by regulatory fines and repeated capital raises. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that the bank is under the watchful eye of regulators in the US for continuing lapses in anti-money laundering controls.

Deutsche Bank repeatedly encountered problems with officials on both sides of the Atlantic under Mr. Achleitner’s watch.

In 2016, under pressure from investors for its shares, the International Monetary Fund called the German bank the world’s riskiest financial institution, and the Fed threw it into its annual stress test for the second year in a row.

The following year, Deutsche Bank paid $629 million by UK and New York regulators to end investigations into so-called mirror trades, transactions Deutsche Bank executed for customers asking them to withdraw from Russia in violation of anti-money laundering laws. to help transfer $10 billion. The bank said it cooperated with the authorities at the time. A monitor appointed to see that the agreement is in place.

In 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services fined Deutsche Bank a further $150 million over its dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other lapses. Deutsche Bank said at the time that it had learned from its mistakes in the case.

Deutsche Bank’s longstanding role as former President Donald Trump’s lender has put the bank in the midst of a political tussle and congressional scrutiny.

A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment on past troubles, but pointed to the outperformance of the bank’s shares over the past two years and the recent credit rating upgrade.

Deutsche Bank has been able to find strong ground under an overhaul led by chief executive Christian Sewing, who took over in 2018. As part of the plan, the bank radically pulled back from its Wall Street presence against the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan. Chase & Company. It exited its equity business in the US and promised sharp cost reductions and a strong focus on servicing corporate clients in Germany.

The bank has been posting better-than-expected results over the past quarters, thanks in part to its investment-banking business, which boomed during the pandemic amid market volatility. The bank has also benefited from being based in Germany, whose government has spent hundreds of billions of euros to keep the economy afloat.

Mr. Wayandts has extensive experience in the financial industry and an excellent network, not only in Europe but also globally, Mr. Sewing said.

Deutsche Bank said it would propose Mr. Wayandts to elect the bank’s supervisory board at its annual meeting in May next year. After this happens, he will be elected as the chairman.

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed