The former Commerzbank boss has been on the Danske Bank supervisory board since 2020.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Hamburg Martin Blessing has been a member of the supervisory board of the major Danish bank Danske since 2020, where he heads the risk committee. Not an easy task, because the bank is still busy cleaning up after one of the biggest money laundering scandals in Europe. Blessing is now set to chair Danske’s board of directors.
On Tuesday morning, the previous incumbent Karsten Dybvad announced that he no longer wanted to stand for re-election at the upcoming general meeting on March 17 and would propose Blessing as his successor. “I am very honored to be recommended as Chairman of the Board of Directors,” said the German banker.
After the serious money laundering scandal in 2018, Danske is still under reconstruction until 2023. The case shocked the entire industry. Suspicious payments with a volume of 200 billion euros were processed through the institute’s Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015. Since then, the bank has not rested.
In 2021, the money house had lost the third CEO within two and a half years. Chris Vogelzang fell over allegations of having allowed abuses in money laundering prevention. However, at ABN Amro, where he had been responsible for private customer business many years before.
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The successor comes from the company. Carsten Egeriis should now complete the restructuring by the end of next year and turn Danske into a more agile, more digital and, above all, more efficient bank. Danske has announced a net profit of a good twelve billion Danish kroner (around 1.56 billion euros) for 2021, which would be significantly more than the 4.6 billion (around 600 million euros) from the year before.
Blessing has had a career with many ups and downs. In 2001 he was promoted to the board of Commerzbank, and in 2008, just before the outbreak of the financial crisis, he was promoted to CEO. The purchase of Dresdner Bank followed a few weeks later. Shortly thereafter, the US investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the state had to support the ailing Commerzbank with 18.2 billion euros.
Blessings Spa not particularly successful
In 2016, the 58-year-old surprisingly left Commerzbank and switched to the Swiss banking giant UBS. Initially, Blessing managed the Swiss private customer business, achieved record results and is even considered a possible successor to the then CEO Sergio Ermotti. Things are not going well as co-head of the most important UBS division, wealth management: when business begins to weaken, Blessing leaves the Swiss financial institution in 2019.
Since then, the banker has attracted attention primarily as a tech investor. Blessing has used the booming market for the empty shell business to raise around 380 million euros with a so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company (Spac).
The aim of the vehicle, called FinTech IPO Company, was actually to buy a technology-driven financial company and take it public. In the end, however, Blessings Spac bought the Dutch company Azerion, which earns its money primarily from advertising placements in online games. Azerion was valued at 1.3 billion euros when it went public. However, since the transaction was completed, the company’s share price has fallen from EUR 10 to EUR 9.12.
More: “The desire to take risks has fizzled out” – investors are becoming more selective with Spacs