11th March, 2022
Deutsche Bank which paid its chief executive officer 8.8 million euros ($9.68 million) in 2021, a 20% increase from a year earlier, is not leaving Russia, despite sweeping Western sanctions.
The pay disclosure in its annual report on Friday comes as the bank comes under criticism for its business in Russia as some top competitors cut ties.
Overall, the lender paid 14% more, or 2.1 billion euros, in bonuses for 2021, rewarding staff for the bank’s most profitable year in a decade.
Deutsche’s finance chief James von Moltke told CNBC that an exit, “for practical purposes … isn’t an option that’s available to us”.
He added that it would not “be the right thing to do in terms of managing those client relationships and helping them to manage their situation”.
Bill Browder, an investor campaigning to expose corruption, said Deutsche staying in Russia “is completely at odds with the international business community and will create backlash, lost reputation and business in the West.”
“I would be surprised if they are able to maintain this position as the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate,” he told Reuters.