Deutsche Bank is involved in a controversial loan for the Australian coal company.
(Photo: AP)
Frankfurt In his speech for next Thursday’s Annual General Meeting, Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing will once again focus on the topics of environmental protection and the fight against climate change: “Our aim is to become one of the world’s leading banks for sustainability,” says the already published script for the virtual shareholder meeting.
However, environmental activists accuse the largest domestic financial institution of having too lax internal rules and conflicts of interest.
In this specific case, it is about the Australian coal company Whitehaven. In 2020, Deutsche Bank participated in a syndicated loan for Whitehaven worth AUD 1 billion. This loan expires next year, but according to information from the Australian environmental activists from Market Forces, the group is also planning a bond with a volume of one billion Australian dollars.
According to information from financial circles, the investment bankers at Deutsche Bank tried to get a mandate for the placement of this bond last year, although the financial institution has stipulated in its framework conditions for environmental and social issues that it will neither finance new extraction sites nor expand them existing mines will participate.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Whitehaven earns its money exclusively from coal and operates three mines. With the “Winchester South” project, the group is planning at least one new pit, into which around one billion Australian dollars in investments are to flow. In addition, there is the planned expansion of the “Vickery” mine in New South Wales.
>> Read also: A quantum of tailwind for Deutsche Bank – the big balance sheet check
According to financial circles, Deutsche Bank committees finally stopped the advance of the in-house investment bankers last fall. The Market Forces activists see the incident as proof that the bank does not take its own rules seriously: “When employees tried to get a mandate for the bond, the guidelines were obviously not clear enough,” criticizes Julien Vincent, Executive Director of the environmental organization.
The bank does not want to comment on the information about the bond mandate, but emphasizes that it is “firm” on the internal guidelines. “Since we do not comment on individual customer relationships, there are always cases in which we are associated with transactions in which we are not actually involved,” says a statement from the institute. In another case, it recently leaked out that the bank will not participate in the financing of a controversial oil pipeline in Africa.
More: Alexander Wynaendts – This is how the future chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank ticks