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Hilmar Kopper in March 2020
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
Hilmar Kopper headed Deutsche Bank for almost a decade, now the former manager has died.
This was announced by the financial institution.
He died "after a short, serious illness" at the age of 86.
Last year Kopper gave an interview on the occasion of his upcoming 85th birthday and looked back on his time at the bank.
He took over the management of the money house after the RAF assassination attempt on Alfred Herrhausen on November 30, 1989 and did not give it up until May 1997.
By then, the bank's total assets had doubled.
From his point of view, Deutsche Bank should have reacted more decisively to the excesses in the capital market business, said Kopper, who was considered "Mister Klartext", in the conversation.
"We weren't robust enough in our controls." When things like that happen, more hire and fire is needed: "If they pay a lot, they have to fire too, if necessary."
Kopper defended the fact that Deutsche Bank's investment banking business was only being expanded under his aegis as “an elixir of life”.
In the financial crisis up to 2008, however, the profit machine turned out to be an expensive problem.
After his time as an active bank manager, Kopper led the supervisory board of Daimler-Benz and started the merger with the US group Chrysler.
Later he also took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of HSH Nordbank.
kig / mamk
