Deutsche Bank names lawyer to supervisory board at Qatar’s suggestion

Deutsche Bank yesterday named lawyer Stefan Simon to succeed supervisory board member Georg Thoma at the suggestion of the lender’s Qatari shareholder.Thoma, at the time head of the supervisory board’s integrity committee, had resigned from his post in April, days after a dispute within the board surfaced in German media over what some members viewed as Thoma’s over-zealous response to scandals the bank has been embroiled in.Simon will assume Thoma’s seat on the board but will not head the integrity committee.Deutsche Bank said US attorney Louise Parent would take on that role, having already filled it on an interim basis since Thoma’s resignation.Deutsche Bank said that Simon, 46 and a partner at law firm Flick Gocke Schaumburg in Bonn, had been suggested as a board member by shareholders Paramount Services Holdings and Supreme Universal Holdings.The lender said the two Qatari funds now each held just under 5% of shares in Deutsche, up from just over 3% in most recent data, which makes Qatar Deutsche Bank’s biggest shareholder ahead of BlackRock.“We are pleased that our Qatari shareholders are banking on the success of Deutsche Bank as shown through their long-term holdings,” Deutsche’s supervisory board chairman Paul Achleitner said in a statement.