Less than a day after the “green-washing raids” by German authorities on the Frankfurt offices of Deutsche Bank and its asset management arm DWS, the bank said Asoka Wöhrmann will resign as chief executive officer at DWS. Stefan Hoops, a long-time Deutsche executive, is named as his successor.
Hoops has served as Deutsche’s head of corporate bank for the last three years. He has been with the bank since 2003.
The raids are a bitter pill for Wöhrmann, who has recently put a lot of effort into getting the asset management branch on track after a difficult period, turning it into a profitable business. German daily Handelsblatt reported that authorities are investigating whether Wöhrmann used private email to share business information.
“Wöhrmann has played a major role in our success in asset management in recent years,” said Karl von Rohr, President of Deutsche Bank and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DWS, in a statement.
Challenging environment
«Under his leadership, DWS has expanded its market position and performed well in a recently challenging environment. We would like to thank him for this as well as for his contribution in previous positions, including in the private banking business in Germany.»
Deutsche Bank’s CEO Christian Sewing, in a statement, thanked Wöhrman for his “impressive work and performance for DWS and Deutsche Bank” and said that “asset management is and remains an important part of our business model. We are convinced that DWS will continue its success story under Stefan Hoops’ leadership.”
‘Strategic imperative’
In a presentation titled “Sustainability Deep Dive” dated 20 May available on Deutsche’s website, Hoops outlined ESG and the energy transformation as a clear opportunity for Deutsche to gain market share in corporate banking. “We are well positioned to gain (redistributed) market share,” the presentation said.
ESG has become a “strategic imperative” for corporate clients, as opposed to a “voluntary activity,” it said.
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