Deutsche Said Management Board Compensation Fell In 2012, Defends Universal Bank Model

Tom Burroughes

15 April 2013

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, said today that total compensation for its management board in the 2012 financial years fell to €26.3 million from €40.2 million a year earlier, as the bank recounted its moves to restructure in the face of mounting regulatory and other costs.

The Frankfurt-listed bank said in its annual report that €9.6 million of the compensation was for base salaries, €15.5 million for performance-related elements with long-term incentives, and €1.3 million for performance-related components without a long-term incentive.

The bank, meanwhile, warned about the dangers of international rules that challenge the universal banking model – to which Deutsche said it is committed – and which it said work against European banks.

“We are convinced this model serves our clients most effectively, offering them an integrated range of products wherever in the world they need us,” according to a letter to shareholders from Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, co-chairmen of the management board and group executive committee.

The bank has recently completed the formal set-up of a “non-core operations unit” and taken moves to bolster its overall capital strength. In March, meanwhile, the bank said mortgage-related litigation in the US led to a €600 million increase in the amount of provisions for such action to €2.4 billion, also hitting its net income, as it adjusted figures for its 2012 results under international financial reporting rules. The rise in litigation provisions cut the previously announced income before income taxes by €600 million to €800 million, and net income by €400 million to €300 million.

Previously, Deutsche Bank said it aims for its newly integrated asset and wealth management division to increase assets under management to around €1 trillion by 2015.