General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Germany is in the wrong, very wrong, in Europe, and must be corrected. Further information: [View all]suffragette
(12,232 posts)Last edited Sun May 20, 2012, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)
for the role he has played in all of this:
Moving Deutsche Bank from a stable conservative bank to one taking risky ventures
Resisting regulation while increasing speculation
Pushing austerity while raking in record profits (though he has not done so well at the profit part recently)
Privatizing profits while socializing risk
From 2/2/12
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/ackermann-s-swan-song-deutsche-bank-moves-toward-an-uncertain-future-a-812951.html
When the Swiss banker turns over his position in May of this year to the leadership duo of Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, he will leave behind a Deutsche Bank that is radically different from the financial institution that he took over in 2006. What was once a successful yet conservative German credit institution has become a global investment bank -- one which plays a role in all important markets and earns gigantic profits.
Many in Germany, however, view the bank's growth with skepticism. Ackermann has become the poster boy in the country for unscrupulous financial capitalism and the media has done little to counter that view. He is seen as only being interested in maximizing profits -- an economic principle that Germans have long been skeptical of, and one which has lost all acceptance since the beginning of the financial crisis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-business-on-josef-ackermann-chairman-of-the-iif-2376847.html
Even more so in recent weeks, as the crisis has spiralled. As head of the Institute of International Finance, he is a lobbyist for Europe's banking industry, and one of the people holding the fate of Greece in his scissorhands.
~~~
A minor detail. German prosecutors tried him for handing outsize bonuses to executives at the telecoms firm Mannesmann. He paid 3.2m (£2.8m) of his own money to make it all go away.
He was originally scheduled to go last year, but two successors have now finally been named. Deutsche Bank will miss him. Not so sure about Greece.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_International_Finance
Greek debt crisis
Further information: Greek government-debt crisis
In 2011, the IIF was the main negotiating partner of the EU government, acting on behalf of the private creditors of Greece, on its debt restructuring. In the second bailout plan (July), some academics raised issues about its communication about "haircuts" on Greece's debt (estimates biased upward), and, more generally, the IIF's undue influence in favor of banks, at the expense of Greece's future
More info on past endeavors here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1344099&mesg_id=1344717
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1344099&mesg_id=1347353