Major shareholder piles pressure on Deutsche Bank chairman
Deutsche Bank’s chairman is reportedly coming under increasing pressure from some of the lender’s largest shareholders to step aside.
Paul Achleitner is facing calls to be replaced in the latest blow to the embattled bank’s management team, according to the FT.
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Private equity group Cerberus, which controls a three per cent stake in the lender, is understood to be keen for change at the top in the wake of Deutsche’s collapsed merger talks with Commerzbank.
Speculation of worsening relations between the two sides comes after a torrid period for Deutsche Bank, which has suffered steepening losses in the last 12 months amid industry challenges, botched tie-up plans with Commerzbank and high-profile financial probes.
In the summer Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing unveiled a major turnaround strategy aimed at slashing costs at the bank.
Deutsche has vowed to cut 18,000 jobs and shut its loss-making equities business, where revenues over the quarter plummeted 32 per cent, as it calls time on its 20-year attempt to rival Wall Street’s investment banking giants.
Pressure from shareholders has surfaced a number of times in recent years, with proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) calling on investors to vote against the board in May.
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Sources also told the FT that Deutsche Bank’s other big investors have had an increasingly negative view of Achleitner’s performance.
Achleitner, who is set to end his term in 2022, took over as Deutsche’s chair in 2012.