Deutsche Bank's Zeltner to Leave Board in Setback for Achleitner

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG supervisory board member Juerg Zeltner is set to step down after just a few weeks as regulators raised concerns about conflicts of interest, a setback for Chairman Paul Achleitner who oversees such appointments.

Zeltner made the decision after regulators made clear he would have to give up his role as chief executive officer of KBL European Private Bankers SA in order to stay, said people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Zeltner joined last month to represent the interests of the Qatari royal family, which owns KBL and is also Deutsche Bank’s biggest shareholder. Zeltner himself is an investor in KBL.

The decision puts a spotlight on Achleitner, who heads the nomination committee in charge of such appointments. The relationship between the chairman and the Qatari investors has soured amid a long decline in the stock of the lender. Some representatives of the Qatari royal family have recently taken the unusual step of directly approaching candidates to gauge their interest in replacing chairman, possibly before his term ends, Bloomberg reported last month.

In appointing Zeltner, the nomination committee didn’t believe his role at KBL would prove problematic and was surprised when it learned about the regulators’ concerns, one person said. Achleitner has been chairman since 2012 and appointing new members of both the supervisory and the management boards is among the most important responsibilities in his role. The bank will soon present a list of potential replacements to the Qataris, the person said.

Officials for Deutsche Bank, Zeltner, and the regulators declined to comment.

Zeltner worked at UBS Group AG until January 2018 and shortly after was in touch with Deutsche Bank about a potential leadership role, but the talks didn’t go anywhere, people familiar with the matter have said.

After joining KBL earlier this year, he is now running a business that competes for rich clients with firms including Deutsche Bank, where wealth management is one of the areas Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing has prioritized for growth.

KBL is headquartered in Luxembourg and offers mostly private banking services through various subsidiaries across Europe, including in Germany through the subsidiary Merck Finck Privatbankiers AG. The firm had 60 billion euros ($66 billion) in assets under management at the end of last year, compared with 200 billion euros at Deutsche Bank’s wealth management unit.

--With assistance from Christoph Rauwald.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net;Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel

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