Deutsche Bank rejects church charge
By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt
Published: December 26 2008 23:16
Last updated: December 26 2008 23:16
Deutsche Bank reacted angrily on Friday after Germany’s senior Protestant bishop accused Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, of turning money-making into a form of “idolatry”.
In a rare and testy public exchange between a prominent German financial institution and a religious leader, Deutsche Bank dismissed as “inappropriate” the remarks by Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairman of Germany’s evangelical church council.
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Deutsche Bank reacted angrily on Friday after Germany’s senior Protestant bishop accused Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, of turning money-making into a form of “idolatry”.
In a rare and testy public exchange between a prominent German financial institution and a religious leader, Deutsche Bank dismissed as “inappropriate” the remarks by Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairman of Germany’s evangelical church council.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Editorial Comment: Why free markets must be defended - Dec-26
Analysis: Finance and faith – what is it all for? - Dec-23
Germany’s largest bank was upset by the timing of the personal attack, made in a newspaper interview published on Christmas Eve, as well as the substance of the censure.
Criticism of bankers from German politicians and church leaders is far from new but the complaints intensified and became more mainstream after the financial system almost failed in the wake of the mid-September Lehman Brothers collapse.
Swiss-born Mr Ackermann, well known in Germany for setting his bank the goal of earning a pre-tax return on equity of 25 per cent, has long been a popular target as the globally-active Deutsche Bank is often seen as having special, domestic responsibilities. But this attack appears to have taken the bank aback.
Speaking to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Bishop Huber argued that bankers had a duty to look beyond the short term and to ensure stability: “Never again should a Deutsche Bank chief executive set a profit goal of 25 per cent.” Such goals drove up profit expectations to unsustainable levels and amounted to “a form of idolatry”, he said. “In the current circumstances, money has become a god.”
The bishop highlighted a widespread view in Germany that the US had largely caused the financial market crisis by encouraging excessive borrowing. He said George W. Bush, US president, and Alan Greenspan, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, had “deluded” ordinary people.
Deutsche Bank may have felt particularly aggrieved by the bishop’s attack because it has not taken advantage of the emergency support made available by Berlin to prop-up the banking system.
Others who have attacked bankers in Germany include Horst Köhler, the country’s president, who in May described global financial markets as “a monster” that “must be put back in its place”. In his Christmas Eve address to Germans, Mr Köhler said the current crisis should be used as a chance to reorder the economy so that capital “serves” society.
Criticism of bankers from German politicians and church leaders is far from new but the complaints intensified and became more mainstream after the financial system almost failed in the wake of the mid-September Lehman Brothers collapse.
Swiss-born Mr Ackermann, well known in Germany for setting his bank the goal of earning a pre-tax return on equity of 25 per cent, has long been a popular target as the globally-active Deutsche Bank is often seen as having special, domestic responsibilities. But this attack appears to have taken the bank aback.
Speaking to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Bishop Huber argued that bankers had a duty to look beyond the short term and to ensure stability: “Never again should a Deutsche Bank chief executive set a profit goal of 25 per cent.” Such goals drove up profit expectations to unsustainable levels and amounted to “a form of idolatry”, he said. “In the current circumstances, money has become a god.”
The bishop highlighted a widespread view in Germany that the US had largely caused the financial market crisis by encouraging excessive borrowing. He said George W. Bush, US president, and Alan Greenspan, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, had “deluded” ordinary people.
Deutsche Bank may have felt particularly aggrieved by the bishop’s attack because it has not taken advantage of the emergency support made available by Berlin to prop-up the banking system.
Others who have attacked bankers in Germany include Horst Köhler, the country’s president, who in May described global financial markets as “a monster” that “must be put back in its place”. In his Christmas Eve address to Germans, Mr Köhler said the current crisis should be used as a chance to reorder the economy so that capital “serves” society.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008