On Friday evening, Deutsche Bank surprisingly presented a successor to its long-term chairman of the supervisory board, Paul Achleitner: the former CEO of the Dutch insurance company Aegon, Alexander Wynaendts.

He will initially be proposed for election to the Supervisory Board at the Annual General Meeting on May 19, 2022 and then elected chairman, as the largest German bank announced on Friday evening.

Tim Kanning

Editor in business.

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It had been known for a long time that Achleitner intends to give up his position next year after ten years.

For a long time, however, internal candidates were considered favorites, especially the head of Deutsche Börse, Theodor Weimer, the long-time Germany boss of PWC, Norbert Winkeljohann, or the former CFO of Volkswagen, Frank Witter.

All of them are already on the supervisory board.

It is a surprise that the nomination committee headed by supervisory board member Mayree Clark is now proposing an external candidate.

At the weekend, Wynaendts will introduce himself to the members of the supervisory board in a special meeting and be officially confirmed.

Member of several supervisory boards

The 61-year-old Dutchman was reportedly head of the Dutch insurance group Aegon from 2008 to 2020. The manager currently sits on several supervisory and administrative boards, including Citigroup, Uber Technologies and Air France KLM. He will step down from the Citigroup Board of Directors. He started his professional career at the major Dutch bank ABN Amro, where he worked in private banking and investment banking in Amsterdam and London for 13 years.

Clark emphasized in the announcement that Wynaendts had worked with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bank manager Christian Sewing says: “He has extensive experience in the financial sector and an excellent network, not only in Europe but also globally.” Wynaendts was quoted in the press release as saying that he was looking forward to “the interests of all stakeholders to represent: the customers, employees, shareholders and also the companies in which the bank is active. "

Apparently in order to maintain continuity, the supervisory board should recommend that the general meeting appoint a further deputy chairman of the supervisory board in addition to the employee representative Detlef Polaschek, as stated in the announcement.

The committee will propose the Winkeljohann supervisory board for this function.