DWS board experiences defeat at the annual general meeting

Frankfurt Greenwashing allegations and the topic of sustainability dominated the general meeting of the fund provider DWS on Thursday. Independent shareholders once again expressed their dissatisfaction with the Deutsche Bank subsidiary’s handling of the accusation that its investment process and fund products were presented as more sustainable than they are, so-called greenwashing. In addition, shareholders and environmentalists called for a more concrete sustainability strategy.

When voting at the virtual general meeting, a good tenth of the shareholders entitled to vote voted against the discharge of the Deutsche Bank subsidiary’s management board. The relatively high proportion of dissenting votes was possible because Deutsche Bank – with almost 80 percent of the shares the dominant shareholder of DWS – is not allowed to take part in the vote on the discharge of the top committees.