Deutsche Bank is stepping up the pace with its board restructuring
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The previous vice president of Deutsche Bank, Karl von Rohr, will be handing over all of his duties on the board on July 1st. This is made possible “through the thorough and speedy preparation of the handover,” said the largest German bank on Tuesday afternoon.
This means that Claudio de Sanctis, who is taking on the role of Head of Private Clients, has moved up to the Board much earlier than expected. The Italian was previously responsible for international private customer business and wealth management, i.e. business with particularly wealthy customers.
With this step, the bank is saying farewell to Rohr’s sewing confidant unexpectedly quickly. The bank emphasized that the supervisory board had already provided for the possibility of an earlier handover together with the restructuring of the management board announced in April. Externally, however, the institute had only communicated that von Rohr would transfer his responsibilities “at the latest” when he left the board at the end of October.
The Italian was previously responsible for international private customer business and wealth management. (Photo: Deutsche Bank)
(Photo: PR)
“In the past few weeks, my board colleagues and I have been working hard to prepare for the handover of my tasks and have made very good progress,” von Rohr wrote in an internal statement available to the Handelsblatt. In this case, he had agreed with CEO Christian Sewing to transfer responsibility for his departments to his successors ahead of time. “We use this option now.”
Rohrs’ other duties on the board will also be transferred on July 1. CFO James von Moltke will be responsible for the fund subsidiary DWS in the future. It is still unclear whether he will also become the head of the asset manager’s supervisory board. The listed DWS has initiated a search for a successor for this position. For the time being, von Rohr will remain the head of the DWS supervisory board.
Karl von Rohr’s job as “Mister Germany” is taken over by Alexander von zur Mühlen. The Asia board assumes responsibility for Europe and Germany in addition to its duties.
Although von Rohr will lose all of his board responsibilities, he will remain on the board until his contract expires. “During this time, I will be available to my successors in an advisory capacity and will continue to support the orderly transition, especially with regard to the customers and representatives of other interest groups I have previously looked after,” he wrote in his internal e-mail to justify his move.
Karl von Rohr announced in mid-April that he would not try to extend the contract beyond October 2023. However, it is unlikely that he would have received another contract from the supervisory board chaired by Alex Wynaendts. CEO Sewing is said to have campaigned for an extension for a long time, but Wynaendts is considered a critic of Rohrs.
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The balance sheet of the long-time Deutsche Bank manager is particularly overshadowed by Rohr’s role as chairman of the supervisory board of the fund subsidiary DWS. He is accused of not having investigated the greenwashing allegations by former DWS sustainability boss Desiree Fixler thoroughly and quickly enough and of having held on to former DWS boss Asoka Wöhrmann for too long.
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