As President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), you receive a lavish annual salary of 1 million euros and are the first lobbyist for Germany's largest banking group.

You should be able to get over the fact that you are called “rulers without a country” because regional savings bank associations and not the DSGV hold the important shares in state banks and building societies.

It was not only incumbent Helmut Schleweis who had to experience that his proposal for a savings bank central bank to be merged from Landesbanken and Deka came to nothing.

When asked about a second term in office, Schleweis, who was born in Heidelberg, is happy to say that he enjoys his work in Berlin and feels fit, but is aware of his age.

Hanno Mussler

Editor in Business.

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Schleweis would be 68 years old when his contract, which expires at the end of 2023, has never been that old before him.

Nevertheless, he keeps the unlikely option of a second term open.

Schleweis recently received strong support.

Hans-Günter Henneke, general manager of the district council, which is closely linked to municipal savings banks, called on the DSGV vice-presidents to extend Schleweis' contract.

The successor aspirants are self-applications that damaged Schleweis' authority.

Henneke's anger is clearly directed at two people: Liane Buchholz and Ulrich Reuter, who head the savings bank associations in Westphalia-Lippe and Bavaria.

Henneke opens the race

However, with his letter supporting Schleweis, Henneke has achieved exactly the opposite: the search for his successor has begun.

According to information from the FAZ, there were trial votes among the regional presidents and the heads of the state banks.

Buchholz found almost no support in either group;

Reuter did, although it also left a lot to be desired for him, as someone who knows the savings bank group says behind closed doors.

In this respect, it is unlikely that the next DSGV President will be found quickly, but the race will probably be decided before the summer of 2023.

Aspirants from outside the savings bank group, such as Jörg Kukies (SPD), Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery, or Sven Giegold (Greens), State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, are considered to have little prospect.

The memory of the former Bavarian Finance Minister Georg Fahrenschon (CSU), who had to resign as DSGV President in 2017 due to allegations of tax evasion, is still too fresh.

It is most likely that Bayern Sparkasse President Ulrich Reuter will win the race.

His shortcoming: The 60-year-old CSU member has only been in office since the beginning of 2021.

But the doctor of law has a lot of financial knowledge as a former employee of Deutsche Bank (1993 to 2001) and through the office of chairman of the board of directors of Sparkasse Aschaffenburg Alzenau, which he held as district administrator of the Aschaffenburg district (2002 to 2020).

However, Reuter's biggest advantage is that the Presidents of the Baden-Württemberg and Rhenish Savings Bank Associations, Peter Schneider and Michael Breuer, do not want to become DSGV President.

This seems to clear the way for Reuter.