Deutsche Bank AG (German for German Bank) is a multinational bank operating worldwide and employing almost 70,000 people (2004). Its headquarters are located in Frankfurt, Germany. Josef Ackermann is its CEO and head of the executive committee, Rolf Breuer is the chairman of the supervisory board.
The culture has been to focus on business success, with empowered teams developing their own IT systems to do what is necessary to deliver. Following a series of mergers and acquisitions and competitive pressure on cost from outside the bank, Deutsche Bank now is integrating and modernizing its IT. The historic culture has meant that there are often several systems to do one job.
History
Deutsche Bank was founded in Germany on January 22, 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade in Berlin by the private banker Adelbert Delbruck and the politician Ludwig Bamberger. Its first branches outside Germany were the ones in London (1873), Shanghai (1872) and Yokohama (1872). Deutsche Bank acquired the banks Berliner Bank-Verein and Deutsche Union-Bank in 1876 and thus became the largest bank in Germany.
During the first three decades of the 20th century it expanded quickly and merged with other local German banks.
Its involvement with the Nazis during the Third Reich led to a break-up of into three parts after the war:
- Norddeutsche Bank AG
- Süddeutsche Bank AG
- Rheinisch-Westfälische Bank AG
Nevertheless in 1957 the three banks merged again. Other takeovers followed, such as the GDR's state bank in 1990 Morgan Grenfell , London in 1989 and Bankers Trust in New York in 1999.
On September 11, 2001 the Deutsche Bank building located at 130 Liberty Street in New York, New York was damaged beyond repair as a result of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks in which two hijacked airplanes, American Airlines Flight 11 which slammed into the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) and United Airlines Flight 175 which slammed into the South Tower (2 World Trade Center) caused large pieces of debris to hit the Deutsche Bank building slicing a large hole into the center of the building and destroying its main entrance and lobby. The building had been acquired two years earlier as part of the Bankers Trust merger. In some news reports it was still referred to as belonging to Bankers Trust rather than Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank sued their insurance carriers to require them to pay out the claims and in December 2004 Deutsche Bank settled with the insurance carriers and then sold the building to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation which will pay for the deconstruction of 130 Liberty Street and ultimately its rebuilding.
Competitors
Diversity
Deutsche Bank received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2003, the second year of the report. In addition, it was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine [1].
On the other hand, Deutsche Bank has been questioned, by the Fair Finance Watch and others, for doing the banking of Turkmenistan President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov, who according to for example this 2004 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report controls and censors all Internet access in Turkmenistan.
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 15:01:26
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
