DrDeutsche Bank surprisingly introduced a successor to its longtime supervisory board chairman Paul Achleitner on Friday evening: the former chief executive of Dutch insurer Aegon, Alexander Wenandts. He will be initially proposed for election to the Supervisory Board at the annual general meeting on May 19, 2022 and then elected as Chairman, as Germany’s largest bank announced Friday night.
It has long been known that Achleitner wants to step down after ten years next year. However, for a long time, internal candidates were considered the favourite, especially Deutsche Boerse chairman Theodor Weimer, long-time German PWC chief Norbert Winkeljohan, or former Volkswagen chief financial officer Frank Witter. They are all already on the supervisory board. Surprisingly, the Nominating Committee chaired by Supervisory Board member Mary Clark is now proposing an outside candidate. This weekend, Wynaendts will present himself to members of the supervisory board at a private meeting and will be officially confirmed.
Member of several supervisory boards
The 61-year-old Dutchman was reported to have been president of Dutch insurance group Aegon from 2008 to 2020. The director currently sits on several supervisory and management boards, including Citigroup, Uber Technologies and Air France KLM. He will step down from the Citigroup board of directors. He began his career at major Dutch bank ABN Amro, working in private and investment banking in Amsterdam and London for 13 years.
Clark asserts in his announcement that Wynaendts has worked with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. “He has extensive experience in the financial sector and an excellent network, not only in Europe but also globally,” says bank manager Christian Swing. The press release quoted Wenandts as saying that he looks to “the interests of all stakeholders” to represent: customers, employees, shareholders as well as the companies in which the bank is active.”
Apparently in order to provide Wynaendts with a second, experienced Supervisory Board as Vice Chair, the Supervisory Board should recommend to the general meeting the appointment of another Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board in addition to employee representative Detlef Polaschek, the announcement said. The committee will propose the Winkeljohann Supervisory Board for this position.
