Danske Tells Investors to Stay Away as Virus Panic Hits AGM
Danske Bank Tells Investors Not to Come to Meeting Due to Virus
(Bloomberg) --
Danske Bank A/S has told its shareholders to stay away from next week’s annual general meeting amid a spike in the number of Danish cases of the coronavirus.
Instead, Denmark’s biggest bank wants investors to use online services to register their votes for the March 17 AGM in Copenhagen.
Danske is responding to a heightened sense of panic in Denmark as authorities tell citizens to avoid handshakes and other forms of human contact amid the spread of the virus. As of Wednesday, Denmark had 442 confirmed cases.
The Danish Health Authority is now advising all Danes with the option of working from home to do so. Danske employees are already following that advice, with some tweeting images of setups that include laundry, family snapshots and other personal items alongside computer screens and cups of home-brewed coffee.
Denmark’s government has pledged about $20 billion in tax breaks for companies, as the fallout of the virus threatens global trade and destroys asset values. The Danish economy relies on exports for roughly half its output, making it particularly vulnerable to any threat to global trade.
Read more: Danske Splits Up Trading Floor to Protect Staff From Virus
Danske’s AGM follows another difficult year in which management cut the bank’s outlook as the fallout of a vast money-laundering scandal continues to take its toll. Most recently, the board was called on to defend a recommendation to hike its own pay, despite the bank’s decision to cut hundreds of jobs. The board said that pay rise was justified, because of all the extra time needed to focus on the fallout of the multiple scandals surrounding the bank.
Danske said the chairman and deputy chairman -- Karsten Dybvad and Jan Thorsgaard Nielsen -- will be the only representatives of the board at the bank’s AGM. Chief Executive Officer Chris Vogelzang and interim Chief Financial Officer Jacob Aarup-Andersen will be the sole members of the executive management team who will be physically present.
Danske said it won’t be serving any food and that shareholders who choose to show up shouldn’t bring guests.
To contact the reporters on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net;Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net
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