Because of the problems at the subsidiary Postbank, the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank has capped the bonuses of almost all board members. CEO Sewing also earned a little less in 2023.
Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing had to make slight cuts to his remuneration last year. The Supervisory Board approved him total compensation of 8.75 million euros, according to the compensation report published today. For the 2022 financial year it was 8.93 million euros.
In contrast, CFO and Group Vice President James von Moltke was able to improve significantly: his total remuneration rose from around 7.1 million euros to a good 7.6 million euros. Overall, the remuneration including bonuses for the eleven managers working over the year with Sewing at the helm fell slightly from 64.9 in the previous year to 64.6 million euros.
Karl von Rohr: Half of the bonuses canceled
The background is primarily the problems at the Group subsidiary Postbank, which the Supervisory Board took as an opportunity to reduce the short-term variable remuneration of almost all board members.
In particular, the then deputy CEO Karl von Rohr, who was responsible for the private customer sector at the time and has since left the bank, had to give up: the control committee cut off a good half of his short-term bonuses. Von Rohr’s total remuneration was a good 5.3 million euros, well below the around 7.3 million in the previous year, although the manager was only on Deutsche Bank’s pay slip in 2023 until the end of October.
Postbank: Service deficiencies and no end in sight?
Complaints to consumer advice centers had increased in connection with an IT change at Postbank; Customers complained about poor service. Since the turn of the year 2022/2023, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has observed “significant impairments in the processing of customer business at Postbank”.
It therefore appointed a special representative for Deutsche Bank in October last year to monitor the progress of its subsidiary Postbank in resolving customer service problems. Contrary to what CEO Sewing promised in the fall, not all problems could be resolved by the end of 2023.
Bonus payments for employees have shrunk
The total compensation of employees in the Deutsche Bank Group rose by one percent to 10.3 billion euros within a year. The total fixed salaries rose by three percent – with a workforce that grew by six percent to 90,130 employees. The bonus pot for employees, however, shrank by six percent to 2.0 billion euros.
Last year, Deutsche Bank achieved its highest profit before taxes in 16 years at almost 5.7 billion euros. The bottom line, however, was that there was a decline in profits: the surplus attributable to shareholders fell by around 16 percent to 4.2 billion euros.