German asset manager DWS' CEO has resigned after a police raid of its offices on greenwashing allegations.
Asoka Woehrmann has resigned as CEO of the asset manager mere hours after German prosecutors raiding DWS’ offices in Frankfurt. Woehrmann, who took on the role of CEO at DWS in 2018, had already come under the microscope after he was found to use his personal email for business purposes, a «Bloomberg» report said.
In a statement from DWS, Weohrmann said: «The allegations made against DWS and myself in past months have become a burden for the company, as well as for my family and me. In order to protect the institution and those closest to me, I would like to clear the way for a fresh start.»
Stefan Hoops, who is head of Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank, a role he took on in 2019, will take over as the new CEO on 10 June, the statement said. Hoops joined Deutsche Bank in 2003 in fixed income sales, before moving to credit trading in New York in 2008 and subsequently taking on leadership roles within Global Markets, the statement said.
David Lynne, who is currently leading Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank in Asia Pacific, will take over Hoops’ current role, «Bloomberg» reported.
Greenwashing Allegations
Deutsche Bank and its around 80 percent-owned asset manager DWS were raided over allegations DWS misled investors about how green the investments marketed as green or greener really were, media reports said.
The German authorities said they were responding to news reports and a whistle-blower’s allegations about DWS’ marketing tactics «greenwashing» its offerings, adding «sufficient factual evidence has emerged» about how little ESG factors were allegedly used to determine investments, according to a «Reuters» report Tuesday.
DWS and Deutsche Bank have previously said they would cooperate with authorities, and DWS repeated its denial of the allegations, according to the «Reuters» report.
A translated dpa-AFX report cited a spokeswoman at the public prosecutor’s office as saying there is a suspicion of capital investment fraud aimed at certain people at DWS.
DWS had 902 billion euros in assets under management as of the end of March.
