Witter comes as the successor to the Austrian Schütz, who came under pressure because of an email to ex-Wirecard boss Braun.
Deutsche Bank Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner brings outgoing VW CFO Frank Witter to the supervisory body. The 61-year-old is to be the successor to the Austrian Alexander Schütz, who is leaving the Annual General Meeting in May after he was criticized for an email to ex-Wirecard boss Markus Braun. Born in Hanover, Witter has experience in the financial industry: he was CEO of Volkswagen Financial Services AG for several years.
“We are pleased to be able to propose Frank Witter, a proven financial expert and a representative of a leading German industrial company, for election to the supervisory board,” said Achleitner, who intends to quit in May 2022.
A suitable successor for the native of Linz, who has been supervisory board boss at Deutsche Bank since 2012, is Deutsche Börse boss Theodor Weimer and the former PwC Germany boss Norbert Winkeljohann, who are already supervisory board members. In principle, Witter also has the potential for the chief position in the body, said several people familiar with the matter to Reuters.
Witter began his professional career with a bank apprenticeship. He joined Volkswagen in 1992 and has been responsible for finances there since 2015. He originally wanted to leave the carmaker in autumn last year for family reasons, but then agreed to extend it by a few months.
Achleitner lost no time in filling the post: Schütz only announced his withdrawal from the supervisory board on Wednesday evening. In February, Schütz wrote in a personal email to Braun that Wirecard should “finish” the business newspaper “Financial Times” because of its critical reports on Wirecard. The bank then distanced itself from Schütz in unusually clear terms. A little later, Schütz resigned from the important positions on the supervisory board.
