Union Investment plans to vote against the planned reform of Deutsche Bank’s Supervisory Board remuneration at the bank’s upcoming general meeting. This position was stated by fund manager Alexandra Annecke to the “Handelsblatt”.
The reform hinges on a proposed articles of association change, which the bank will submit to shareholders for a vote. The planned adjustments include raising the basic remuneration for Supervisory Board members and eliminating existing regulations that currently cap additional payments for those leading supervisory board committees.
However, Annecke expressed concern that while an increase in the base salary would be acceptable-as it has not been raised in a long time-the complete removal of the committee remuneration cap is excessively generous and exceeds what is appropriate.
Deutsche Bank provided its justification in an invitation to the general meeting sent out in April. The bank argues that current remuneration levels are no longer internationally competitive due to the complex nature of the institution, which requires Supervisory Board members with high levels of expertise. Furthermore, the bank cites the high time commitment of the mandate and the additional effort involved in leading committees.
The bank intends to formalize these remuneration increases through changes to its articles of association. For these institutional changes to pass at the general meeting, a majority representing three-quarters of the votes of the attending capital is required.
