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Record numbers and negative headlines:
DWS boss Asoka Wöhrmann has significantly increased the fund company's profits, but has drawn criticism for violations of the rules such as the use of his private e-mail account.
Photo: PR
Seven years ago, DWS boss
Asoka Wöhrmann
(56) registered with Whatsapp. There is no photo on his profile, but the names of his children and four baby bottles. According to information from manager magazin, the chat service is one of his most popular means of communication, not just for exchanging private information, but also for business, reports three insiders independently of one another. One of them has now turned to the financial regulator Bafin as a whistleblower and reported the "unauthorized use" of the intelligence service for internal communications in the DWS management circle.
Wöhrmann has headed the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary since autumn 2018.
On Thursday, DWS presented a record profit of 1.14 billion euros for the past year - a good 40 percent more than in the previous year.
However, the numbers can only briefly distract from the alleged rule violations, which put Wöhrmann under pressure and question his qualifications as head of a listed and regulated company.
Wöhrmann is said to have exchanged business matters via private email
Wöhrmann apparently used his private e-mail account for business matters before moving to DWS, when he was still in charge of the German private customer division of Deutsche Bank.
Because this happened much more frequently than initially known internally, as reported by the “Financial Times”, Deutsche Bank recently expanded an investigation into this.
The whistleblower's report to the Bafin about the professional use of Whatsapp relates to the period from 2019, when Wöhrmann was already at the head of the fund company.
Woehrmann and some of his colleagues from the executive committee are said to have communicated via the chat service about customers and sales issues, among other things, says the former high-ranking DWS manager, who informed the financial regulator and whose identity is known to manager magazin.
In addition to Wöhrmann, sales manager Dirk Goergen (41) is a particularly active Whatsapp user.
Shortly after they joined DWS, he asked employees for their private mobile phone number and asked them to communicate via Whatsapp, according to the whistleblower.
According to another ex-manager of the fund company, there are several Whatsapp groups in top management through which communication takes place.
It is also obvious to those who are not involved how often decisions about the chat service are prepared and agreed before important meetings.
It is not compatible with the bank's code of conduct to exchange business information in private emails or via messengers such as Whatsapp.
The Bafin did not want to comment on the DWS whistleblower's tip.
The fund company left unanswered questions from manager magazin as to whether and to what extent Wöhrmann and his colleagues use Whatsapp for official communication and referred to earlier statements about criticism of Wöhrmann.
He is the target of selective, misleading leaks with the sole purpose of badmouthing him.
Wöhrmann is also under pressure because of greenwashing allegations
The head of the fund house has been heavily criticized since the summer of last year.
A former top manager accuses the company of presenting its products as significantly greener and more sustainable than they are.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice are investigating the greenwashing allegations.
So far, these could not have been confirmed, said Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing (51) at the institute's balance sheet press conference on Thursday.
Woehrmann also defends himself.
The attacks of the past few months were aimed at DWS's reputation as well as his own reputation and well-being, he said this week at the presentation of the DWS annual figures.
"I expressly reject all of these allegations and allegations."
Deutsche Bank had already looked at Wöhrmann's communication via his private e-mail account after a press inquiry last summer and came to the conclusion that it was only a matter of individual and harmless letters.
Specifically, it is about emails from the years 2017 and 2018, when Deutsche Bank was holding talks about a stake in the car financier Auto1 Fintech and, according to the company's internal plans, Wöhrmann was to take on the role of chairman.
During this time, according to information from the FT, he is said to have communicated for months via his private GMX e-mail address and exchanged 50 to 100 e-mails - with business plans, key data and other confidential information.
Deutsche Bank boss Sewing introduces himself to Wöhrmann
In view of the FT article, Deutsche Bank has now taken up the topic again.
Deutsche Bank boss Sewing said at the balance sheet press conference on Thursday: You now have new information that you will examine.
Overall, however, he introduced himself to Wöhrmann and emphasized that he had done an excellent job at the fund subsidiary.
The DWS boss recently made headlines with a strange deal with a businessman who was also involved with Auto1 Fintech.
Wöhrmann had transferred him 160,000 euros - with the request that he get him a Porsche.
He never got the car that way and he didn't get the money back until about a year after the transfer.
The whistleblower, who turned on the Bafin because of the Whatsapp use at DWS, also accuses senior employees of Deutsche Bank of the same.
They used the messenger service to make arrangements with colleagues from the fund company.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
In the USA, chatting via Whatsapp was expensive for the major bank JP Morgan.
Regulatory authorities there last year imposed a fine of 200 million dollars because traders used the messenger service to cover up transactions and thus circumvent documentation requirements.
The investment bank fired these employees or at least cut their bonuses.
The rules governing which devices and communication apps bankers can use in their day-to-day work have been tightened significantly in recent years.
The triggers were scandals about the manipulation of a reference interest rate.
At the time, bank employees used chat services to coordinate things.
