ACTIONS CORNER

During the Q&A phase of the Deutsche Bank shareholders’ meeting on May 22, it emerged that the number of court cases that the bank is facing rose from 800 to some 6,000 in the first quarter alone. Of those, 100 have a litigation value in excess of 100,000 Euros. In addition, there are 180 proceedings afoot that involve watchdog bodies. So far this year, the bank has had to foot bills for 350 million Euros in legal fees. In one mathematical model, for every 16 full-time group employees there is one case being pursued in court. Broadening the perspective to the thousands of million Euros in settlements and judgments handed down against the bank, VIP (Vereinigung Institutioneller Privatanleger) asks “Why are we paying so much to people who have done so much harm, as though we didn’t want them to leave?”