Josef Meinrad Ackermann (born 7 February 1948) is a Swiss banker, former Chairman of the

Bank of Cyprus The Bank of Cyprus (BoC) ( el, Τράπεζα Κύπρου, tr, Kıbrıs Bankası) is a Cypriot financial services company established in 1899 with its headquarters in Strovolos. Current operations The Bank of Cyprus currently operates 108 bra ...

, and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

. He has also been a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sect ...

Early life

He was born in

Walenstadt Walenstadt is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is located on Lake Walen (also known as "Lake Walenstadt"). Geography Walenstadt has an area of . Of this area, ...

Canton of St. Gallen The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall (german: link=no, Kanton St. Gallen ; rm, Chantun Son Gagl; french: Canton de Saint-Gall; it, Canton San Gallo), is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeastern ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, raised in

Mels Mels is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. History Mels is first mentioned in 765 as ''Maile'' though this comes from a later copy of the original document. In ...

in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

home, and is a graduate of the University of St. Gallen (HSG). After studying economics and social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, he continued his time there as a research assistant at the Department of Economics and went on to receive a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in the subject.

Career

After leaving university Ackermann went to work in 1977 for the Swiss multinational investment bank

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

, which he left in 1996. In the same year he joined the board of directors of the

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. He served as chairman of the board from 2002 to 2012. In March 2019 the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

reported that Ackermann was aware of the business dealings between the New York branch of the bank and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

. Ackermann agreed at the end of 2009 to continue as chief executive of Deutsche Bank for another three years until 2013. At the annual shareholder meeting in late May 2012, he "handed over the CEO baton" to co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen. According to the ''

Financial Times Deutschland The ''Financial Times Deutschland'' was a German-language financial newspaper based in Hamburg, Germany, published by Bertelsmann's Gruner + Jahr newspaper and magazine division. The daily contained four sections: Business, Politics & Economy, F ...

'' Ackerman earned €9.4 million in 2009 and €8.8 million in 2010. His included bonus in 2009 was €8.2 million and €7.1 million in 2010. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

. Other positions held: * Second Deputy Chairman of

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

(but he has announced his resignation in September 2013) * Director of Renova Management part of

Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, uk, Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian–Israeli-Cyprus oligarch, billion ...

Renova Group Renova may refer to: Cities, towns, townships etc. * Renova, Mississippi *Renova: an unincorporated settlement in Dexter Township, Minnesota Brand names * Renova (brand), a Portuguese paper products company * Trade name of tretinoin Treti ...

* Non Executive Director of

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

* Visiting professor of Finance at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

* Visiting professor at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University * President of the Board of Trustees of the St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies * President of the Board of Patrons of the

Institute for Corporate Culture Affairs An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

* Chairman of the Board of Directors of the

Institute of International Finance An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

* Bilderberg Meetings attendee 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 * Chairman of the Board of Directors of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

* Advisory Board Member of Macro Hive Days after retirement and on the eve of a conference call by G7 finance ministers and central bank governors on the continuing European debt crisis, Ackerman said in a speech to the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic pro ...

that "Germany will ultimately take whatever steps renecessary to keep the euro zone intact", according to one report. The country "is moving cautiously because it simply fears that countries on the European periphery will stop reform measures if they see that

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

is going to guarantee everything", he continued.Robb, Greg
"German
y] will rescue euro zone: Ackermann", ''MarketWatch'', June 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-05. He was a non-executive director of

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

from 2000 to 2002.

Return to banking

In November 2014 he was elected as chairman of the board of directors of the

following the proposal of the new major shareholder of the bank

Wilbur Ross Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer ...

, who later became the

Commerce Secretary The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

in the

Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

Personal life

He is married to Pirkko Mölsä.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackermann, Josef Meinrad 1948 births Swiss bankers Swiss corporate directors Swiss Roman Catholics Swiss chief executives Living people People from Walenstadt University of St. Gallen alumni Directors of Shell plc Vodafone people Group of Thirty Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group Bank of Cyprus