You are here

Deutsche Bank tires quickly of its experiment with integrity

Section: Daily Dispatches

Head of Deutsche Bank Integrity Committee to Resign

By James Shotter
Financial Times, London
Thursday, April 28, 2016

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9256f338-0d82-11e6-b41f-0beb7e589515.html

Georg Thoma is to resign from Deutsche Bank's supervisory board after coming under fire from other board members in a battle over how to deal with the German bank's past scandals.

The veteran corporate lawyer was brought on to the board by chairman Paul Achleitner in 2013 and headed the integrity committee, whose remit includes overseeing the bank's efforts to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

However, Mr Thoma's approach left him at odds with some colleagues, and on Sunday, Alfred Herling, Deutsche's vice-chairman, took the unusual step of publicly criticising his actions in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine
Sonntagszeitung.

... Dispatch continues below ...



ADVERTISEMENT

A Contrarian's Call Option on Gold

Sandspring Resources' Toroparu project in Guyana is the fourth-largest gold deposit in South America held by a junior mining company.

Experienced backers of Sandspring Resources include Silver Wheaton, the John Adams / Energy Fuels group in Denver, and Frank Giustra’s Fiore Group in Vancouver.

A 2013 preliminary feasibility study shows strong economics for this large-scale mine at US$1,400 gold. With a current gold price below US$1,300, Sandspring is for investors who believe that gold price suppression will be overcome.

For a detailed report on Sandspring Resources by Tommy Humphreys of CEO.CA, please visit:

https://ceo.ca/@tommy/a-ten-million-ounce-call-option-on-gold



Mr Herling accused Mr Thoma of "overzealousness," saying that he "goes too far when he demands ever wider investigations and more and more lawyers come marching up," and adding that the costs were "no longer proportionate."

Meanwhile, Henning Kagermann, the former head of German software group SAP who is also a board member at Deutsche, told the newspaper that "for all the diligence that we have exercised, it is important for us that Deutsche Bank finally ... devotes all its energy to looking to the future."

Deutsche said in a statement that Mr Thoma would resign immediately from his role as chairman of the integrity committee and leave the supervisory board after a one-month notice period. The bank has begun the search for a permanent successor.

Mr Achleitner said Mr Thoma had given Deutsche "outstanding service" during his time on the board. "He has implemented processes of great importance and benefit to the bank. The supervisory board is determined to continue its work of investigating possible misconduct and to draw lessons for the future," he said.

Mr Thoma did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The boardroom spat comes just three weeks before Deutsche's annual shareholder meeting on May 19, at which the bank's
supervisory board is likely to come under scrutiny.

One small shareholder has requested a special audit of whether members of Deutsche's supervisory board or management board breached their obligations in how they dealt with some of the bank's legal entanglements.

The motion requests that the audit ascertain whether there were management failings in relation to a number of investigations, including the Libor scandal.

Among other things, it requests an investigation into whether Deutsche had to pay heavier fines because members of its management or supervisory board obstructed, misled, or failed to co-operate sufficiently with authorities.

* * *

Support GATA by purchasing recordings of the proceedings of the 2014 New Orleans Investment Conference:

https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/2014-av-powell

Or by purchasing DVDs of GATA's London conference in August 2011 or GATA's Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16