Deutsche Bank bids farewell to chair as it looks to more stable future

Deutsche Bank looked to open a new chapter on Thursday as its shareholders voted in a successor to Paul Achleitner as chair, after a rocky decade during which Germany’s largest lender lost billions and saw its share price plummet.

Alexander Wynaendts, a Dutch former insurance executive, was voted in to succeed Achleitner for a four-year term as chair at Deutsche’s AGM. As a former head of Dutch insurer Aegon, which also had staff around the world and a large US presence during a turbulent decade, Wynaendts has experience that should serve him well at Deutsche.

Under Achleitner, Deutsche saw multiple top management changes, entered and exited merger talks with rival Commerzbank and also paid big fines for misconduct that regulators feared could topple the Frankfurt-based bank.

“I look back today on eventful years in what was a difficult phase for our bank,” Achleitner told shareholders.

“We have all set the course for a successful future.”

Deutsche has more recently entered calmer waters after an overhaul that trimmed its investment bank and cut costs by shedding thousands of staff. It has posted seven consecutive quarters of profit, its longest streak in the black since 2012.

But control problems continue to plague the bank, despite efforts to beef up safeguards, something Wynaendts plans to focus on strengthening further.

Introducing himself to shareholders, Wynaendts said the bank was on firmer ground and would “maintain a strong focus on costs and controls”.

Andreas Thomae, a portfolio manager at Deka, which is a big Deutsche investor, said he hoped Wynaendts would steer the bank “through a somewhat calmer phase”.

But, in a reminder of past problems, prosecutors and federal police last month searched Deutsche’s headquarters in a raid linked to suspicions of money laundering.

Deutsche said at the time the search was related to suspicious transactions it had itself passed on to authorities and that it was co-operating fully.