Es has become the favorite: Stephan Leithner, 57 years old, who has been on the board of Deutsche Börse since May 2018 and has been responsible for, among other things, the important data and indices business, will take over as head of the board in the fall. The company announced this on Friday afternoon. Leithner initially merged the company with Theodor Weimer for three months. Weimer will then leave office as planned after seven successful years at the end of the year at the age of 65.
Leithner's CV fits too well for the supervisory board to urgently look for other ideas. The economist already dealt with risk management and interest rate derivatives during his doctorate in St. Gallen. He rose to become a partner in the management consultancy McKinsey. Josef Ackermann brought him to Deutsche Bank in 2000. He became a board member there in 2012. He knows the customer side of the stock exchange inside out.
The years at Deutsche Bank were as good as they could be after the bursting of the new economy bubble, the financial crisis and the numerous legal disputes that followed. Leithner was also responsible for, among other things, the “Law, Compliance, Government and Regulatory Affairs” department. There was no entertainment tax. He was unable to prevent billions in fines; for interest rate manipulation, money laundering and much more. Most of this happened before Leithner's time. In 2015, he left Deutsche Bank and became a partner at the Swedish financial investor EQT before Weimer brought him to the stock exchange. He proved himself there.
The favorite has prevailed
The father of three children is considered a man of quieter tones, born and raised far away from the global financial centers in Tyrol. The family ran a hotel on Lake Achensee, including a ski school and golf course. For at least five years, the center of life will continue to be around Frankfurt and the stock exchange headquarters in Eschborn, at least with a view of the Feldberg, for which a Tyrolean might find the term mountain a bit exaggerated.
Leithner was nevertheless pleased about the appointment on Friday: “In recent years, we have successfully developed the business model and shown what potential lies in this company and, above all, in its employees, who work at 56 locations worldwide. Now it is important to further develop this potential within the entire group in order to shape the markets of the future together.”
The years under Theodor Weimer were good for the stock exchange; it grew significantly and broadened its business, especially in Leithner's departments, who became the favorite to succeed him. Recently he has also appeared more publicly at stock market events. It is the first internal appointment of a boss at Deutsche Börse, and it is also the first time that an Austrian is at the top, after the two Swiss Werner Seifert (1993 to 2005) and Reto Francioni (2005 to 2015) were at the top before Weimer, as well as Carsten from 2015 to 2017 Kengeter. Recently, the share price has repeatedly reached new record highs. At 35 billion euros, the market value clearly dwarfs Leithner's old employer Deutsche Bank (26 billion euros). Leithner played a significant role in the strategic development of the company, said Supervisory Board Chairman Martin Jetter, explaining his choice.
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