Deutsche Bank wants its former executives to accept a cut of bonuses due to losses the bank has incurred. One of the managers in question, Hugo Baenziger, the former head of risk, rejects the claims in an interview.
Hugo Baenziger won’t forego his claim to bonuses withheld by Deutsche Bank, he told Germany’s «Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung» in an interview. «There are no legal complaints against me, I have nothing to blame myself for,» he added. Baenziger has been a partner at Lombard Odier, the private bank based in Geneva, since 2014.
The Swiss manager was Deutsche Bank’s head of risk and a member of the executive board from 2006 through 2012.
No Sanctions, No Investigation
Deutsche Bank CEO Paul Achleitner at the annual general meeting in mid-May had said that the bank was close to reaching an agreement with the former executives. Baenziger now says that this statement didn’t bear out in reality. «I don’t know what Achleitners statement was based upon,» he said. «Before the annual general meeting, I hadn’t been in touch for nine months and had heard nothing, including via my lawyers.»
Baenziger, 61, said the bank had no leverage to make him forego his bonus. The prosecutor in Frankfurt had found nothing in his investigation and subsequently had cancelled the probe. The bank also hadn’t sanctioned the executives internally.
Moral Duty?
The lack of legal leverage perhaps prompted the chief executive to evoke a sense of moral duty upon the former executives, Baenziger said.
Josef Ackermann and Anshu Jain are other former members of the bank’s executives involved in the conflict.
