While more and more companies in the DAX are returning to a face-to-face event at their general meetings (AGM), Deutsche Bank, of all companies with an affinity for the capital markets, is sticking firmly to the purely virtual format. At the general meeting on Thursday, the board of directors led by Christian Sewing and the supervisory board led by Alexander Wynaendts again received strong criticism from numerous shareholders.
“A successful model looks different,” said Markus Kienle from the Investor Protection Association. The fund company Union Investment – with a 0.6 percent stake, one of the bank’s 25 largest shareholders – therefore even completely refused to discharge the board and supervisory board. “Deutsche Bank is now probably the only stock corporation in the DAX and MDAX that forces shareholders to submit their questions in advance,” said fund manager Alexandra Annecke in her video message at the AGM. Restricting the right to ask questions makes a substantive debate more difficult.
This was made possible by a law that Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) brought through parliament in 2022. It allows companies to make the distance HV from the Corona period a permanent situation. The company bosses and supervisory boards make active use of this: About two thirds are now holding up of the 40 DAX companies hold their general meeting digitally. At least three companies, Continental, Fresenius and Munich Re, returned to in-person AGMs this year, for which the companies received praise from shareholders, most of whom prefer a hybrid format.
If Deutsche Bank’s actual aim is to attract particularly little attention to itself with its general meeting, it seems to be increasingly successful in doing so. The bank emphasized that the digital format primarily allows international investors to participate, as Deutsche Bank is mostly owned by foreigners. It was also possible to overcome time zone and language barriers and thus offer the greatest possible transparency.
There used to be 3,000 shareholders, now only 300 listen
However, interest from shareholders has really collapsed with the virtual format. In recent years, significantly more than 3,000 shareholders have flocked to the carefully orchestrated events in the Frankfurt exhibition hall, a kind of high mass for shareholder culture. This Thursday, however, according to the bank, only just under 300 shareholders dialed in, only a few of them from abroad. That was even significantly less than the previous year, when 920 shareholders tuned in, 23 of them from abroad. Of these, only two shareholders from Malta and Austria also exercised their right to ask questions.
In terms of content, some shareholders praised the recent significant increase in share price, but criticized the IT chaos at Postbank and the recent legal slap on the Postbank takeover. In a legal dispute with former Postbank shareholders that has been going on for years, the Cologne Higher Regional Court recently indicated that it could decide in favor of the plaintiffs. The bank then had to set aside an enormous 1.3 billion euros, which many shareholders had not expected.
“How could such a misjudgment come about on your part, Mr. Sewing?” asked Andreas Thomae, Deka fund manager. CEO Sewing emphasized that they are still of the opinion that their own legal position is correct. Legal director Stefan Simon said that a provision should not have been set up earlier based on the legal assessment. The Federal Court of Justice referred the case back to the Cologne court in December 2022 and in doing so had already partially strengthened the position of the plaintiffs. It was said that Deutsche Bank has now started talks with the plaintiffs again.