Deutsche Bank co-chiefs Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain have stepped down from their positions as a result of hefty regulatory penalties and shareholder dissatisfaction.
The co-chief executives will be replaced by John Cryan, who has been a member of the bank’s supervisory board. Jain will step down on 30 June 2015 but remain as a consultant with Deutsche Bank from July 1, 2015, to January 2016. Fitschen will remain in his current role until the conclusion of the AGM on 19 May 2016, to help ensure a smooth transition.
In the last two months, the German bank has been hit with hefty regulatory penalties for Libor manipulation and mis-stated accounts.
In April, the bank pleaded guilty to charges of Libor manipulation and wire fraud to do so. It also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve wire fraud and antitrust charges relating to manipulation of US Dollar Libor and Yen Libor.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) fined the bank £509 million ($775 million). Added to this, the bank was also fined approximately £1.145 billion ($1.744 billion) in regulatory penalties and disgorgement – £525 million ($800 million) as a result of a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) action, £394 million ($600 million) as a result of a New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) action, and £226 million ($344 million) as a result of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) action. The total figure of criminal penalties given to Deutsche bank amounts to £1.65 billion ($2.519 billion).
Added to this, in May, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) charged Deutsche Bank with misstating financial reports during the financial crisis and handed out a fine of £36 million ($55 million).
At last month’s AGM, according to Reuters, the co-chiefs were heavily criticised by shareholders, regarding the bank’s performance during their tenure, as well as the heavy penalties meted out by regulators around the world.
Paul Achleitner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank, said: ‘On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to express our gratitude and respect for the contributions that Jürgen and Anshu have made to our bank. Due to their decades of commitment, Deutsche Bank attained its leadership position. Their decision to step down early demonstrates impressively their attitude of putting the bank’s interests ahead of their own.’
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