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The chief government of Germany’s high asset administration agency DWS Group has resigned hours after the corporate’s workplaces in Frankfurt have been raided by police over allegations of greenwashing.
DWS mentioned in a press release on Wednesday morning that Asoka Wöhrmann, chief government since late 2018, would step down as of June 10, the day after the group’s annual shareholders’ assembly.
He will probably be changed by Stefan Hoops, beforehand head of the company financial institution at Deutsche Financial institution, DWS’s majority proprietor, which holds an 80 per cent stake. Hoops will probably be changed in flip by British-born David Lynne, who at present heads Deutsche’s company enterprise within the Asia-Pacific area.
The chief reshuffle got here shortly after about 50 German police raided the workplaces of DWS and Deutsche Financial institution in downtown Frankfurt on Tuesday, as a part of an investigation into potential prospectus fraud on the asset supervisor. The search concerned public prosecutors from Frankfurt, federal police and officers from the German monetary regulator, BaFin.
BaFin launched an investigation into DWS final yr, following the same probe by the US Securities and Alternate Fee, which was prompted by allegations from former DWS government Desiree Fixler.
Fixler mentioned the corporate had made deceptive statements in its 2020 annual report over claims that greater than half the group’s $900bn property have been invested utilizing environmental, social and governance standards.
DWS has denied any wrongdoing, however has modified its ESG standards since Fixler’s revelations. In its 2021 annual report, printed in March 2022, DWS reported solely €115bn in “ESG property” for 2021 — 75 per cent lower than a yr earlier when it acknowledged that €459bn in property have been “ESG built-in”.
The group’s shares fell nearly 6 per cent on Tuesday following the raid.
Wöhrmann’s alternative within the wake of the greenwashing raid comes a number of months after the Monetary Instances revealed that Deutsche Financial institution was investigating a €160,000 cost made by a shopper to the senior banker, when he was head of the lender’s non-public shopper enterprise. The chief mentioned the switch was a part of a failed try to purchase a Porsche.
Wöhrmann has additionally confronted criticism over his use of a private e-mail handle for enterprise functions throughout his time at Deutsche.
In a press release launched by DWS, Wöhrmann mentioned he was leaving “to clear the way in which for a contemporary begin,” as “allegations made towards DWS and myself in previous months have change into a burden for the corporate, in addition to for my household.”
Karl von Rohr, chair of DWS, mentioned that Wöhrmann had performed a “main position” within the financial institution’s asset administration operation lately. “Beneath his management, DWS has expanded its market place and carried out effectively in a lately difficult setting,” he mentioned.
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