The CEO of asset manager DWS, the German top banker Asoka Wöhrmann, announced his resignation today. He submitted that just hours after dozens of investigators raided the offices of DWS in Frankfurt and the local seat of majority shareholder Deutsche Bank.
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The German court suspects DWS of fraud with investments, whereby investment funds are presented as more sustainable than they actually are. According to a whistleblower, DWS would indicate in annual reports that more than half of the assets under management are invested sustainably. The actual percentage would be a lot lower.
According to the prosecutor’s office, indications were already found during the investigation that not all sustainable funds meet the ESG criteria, the sustainability criteria for environmental or social aspects. An investigation is also underway in the United States. It made the position of 57-year-old Wöhrmann untenable. “The allegations made in recent months, including personal attacks and threats – however unfounded – have left their mark,” Wöhrmann said in a statement yesterday.
He will be succeeded from June 10 by Stefan Hoops, who currently heads Deutsche Bank’s business arm.
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