DWS boss steps down after German 'greenwashing' raid

The chief executive of DWS stepped down, the German asset manager said Wednesday, after the financial institution was raided by prosecutors in relation to "greenwashing" allegations.

Asoka Woehrmann had "resigned as CEO of DWS Group" with the decision coming into effect after the asset manager's annual general meeting on June 9, it said.

The allegations against DWS and Woehrmann personally had become a "burden", the outgoing CEO said in a statement released by DWS.

Woehrmann "played a major role in the success of our asset management in recent years," Karl von Rohr, Deutsche Bank president and chair of DWS's supervisory board, said in a statement.

DWS is majority owned by Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender.

Both financial institutions were raided Tuesday by German prosecutors in relation to allegations DWS was involved in "greenwashing", marketing its investment products as "greener" than they actually were.

Investigators had found "sufficient indications" that "contrary to the statements in the sales prospectuses of DWS funds, ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors were actually only taken into account in a minority of investments", they said.

The probe was targeting "as yet unknown" employees at DWS, prosecutors said.

Woehrmann will be replaced at DWS by Stefan Hoops, currently the head of Deutsche Bank's corporate banking operation.

DWS chief since 2018, Woehrmann has come under recent scrutiny for his use of a personal email account for business purposes.

Regulators have targeted DWS since the asset manager's former chief sustainability officer, Desiree Fixler, came forward with "greenwashing" allegations against it last year.

ESG products have become a major asset class as financial institutions seek to bring their portfolios in line with global climate targets.

sea/hmn/lth

DWS

DEUTSCHE BANK

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

A cloudless future? The mystery at the heart of climate forecasts
Austin TX (SPX) Jun 01, 2022
We hear a lot about how climate change will change the land, sea, and ice. But how will it affect clouds? "Low clouds could dry up and shrink like the ice sheets," says Michael Pritchard, professor of Earth System science at UC Irvine. "Or they could thicken and become more reflective." These two scenarios would result in very different future climates. And that, Pritchard says, is part of the problem. "If you ask two different climate models what the future will be like when we add a ... read more