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Dear shareholders.
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Ladies and gentlemen.
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On behalf of my colleagues on the Supervisory Board, I would like to welcome you very warmly to today's Annual General Meeting for DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA.
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I said the same thing last year, but this time it is final. Today will be my last Annual General Meeting as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
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Oliver Behrens, we have found an excellently qualified candidate as my successor, and he will stand for election to the Supervisory Board at today's AGM. I will come back to this later on in greater detail.
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For a good six years, I have served DWS as Chairman of the Supervisory Board on its path as a listed company. During this time, the entire DWS team have overcome a number of challenges and come a long way, as we will show you in a moment.
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It has been my pleasure to perform this role, even though it has not always been plain sailing, and I'm grateful for the trust you have placed in me, ladies and gentlemen.
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As announced last year, I will continue to be a member of the Supervisory Board, and I look forward to further supporting Oliver Behrens and everyone at DWS-
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On the Supervisory Board in the future. But let me come back to today's AGM of DWS, which I hereby open.
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Ladies and gentlemen, before I move on to my actual speech, let me briefly turn to the formalities required at an AGM.
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The Annual General Meeting was convened in proper form and in due time, with the publication of the agenda in the Federal Gazette of 25th of April 2024. All members of the Executive Board of the General Partner are present here today. They are Stefan Hoops...
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Markus Kobler.
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Karen Kuder.
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Dirk Görgen.
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Manfred Bauer.
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I'm pleased to be able to welcome all of you here in person. Moreover, all members of the Supervisory Board are present here in person today. The shareholder representatives are my deputy, Ute Wolf, Bernd Leukert, Margret Suckale, Aldo Cardoso, Katsuhide Toda, Richard Morris, and Kristin de Barnier .
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The employee representatives are Erwin Stengele, Christine Metzler, Stefanie Toczini, and Angela Meurer.
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Let me also welcome all of you very warmly here today.
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Moreover, on the far right from your perspective, we have our notary, Dr. Habetha. Dr. Habetha will be taking notarized minutes of today's Annual General Meeting.
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The list of participants is currently being drawn up. Once the list has been completed, I will announce the attendance.
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The attendance area covers the Congress Center of the Frankfurt Trade Fairgrounds. This is where the studio and the so-called back office are located, and this is also where the votes will be counted later on today. Moreover, the company's proxy is also located here.
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The agenda, with the wording of the proposed resolutions, is available for inspection here. A copy is held by our notary. The full wording is also available on our website.
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The entire Annual General Meeting will be broadcast live on our website today as a video and audio transmission. The broadcast can be followed by our shareholders and the interested public. Recordings of all statements up to the end of the CEO's speech will be retrievable on our website after the close of today's Annual General Meeting.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have now concluded the formalities.
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Please allow me to continue with a report of the Supervisory Board about its activities in the completed financial year.
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In order to ensure the effective performance of its function in its entirety and in the form of its committees, the Supervisory Board receives regular reports, particularly from the members of the Executive Board. We are informed about the company's business development and strategy, corporate, financial, and human resources planning, profitability, as well as its risk, liquidity, and capital management activities. The main activities of the Supervisory Board in financial year 2023 are covered in detail on pages 5 to 12 of our annual report 2023.
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I would therefore like to highlight only some of the topics we dealt with at this point.
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Overall, the Supervisory Board and its committees held a total of 33 meetings last year. The average attendance rate was more than 97%.
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The Supervisory Boards met nine times for plenary meetings. In addition to monitoring day-to-day business operations, our primary task here was to advise the Executive Board on the implementation of the strategic core projects. Specifically, these include the multi-year transformation program and DWS's ambitions for growth, along with measures to further strengthen its market position. Together, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board concentrated on implementing the strategy that was presented to the capital market and the public in December 2022, in an-
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in a revised version. As in previous years, we also had a two-day strategy meeting in 2023.
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As the main emphasis, both boards reviewed the strategic milestones that had already been achieved, individual adjustments of initiatives, and investments in new growth areas.
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Furthermore, the Supervisory Board and Executive Board discussed the priorities for a forward-looking program at length and analyzed the trends, risks, and opportunities of the current market environment.
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Core topics discussed included culture at DWS, the sustainability strategy and its implementation and the company's data strategy. We also considered our strategies in Asia Pacific and in the Americas. Needless to say, another key focus of the strategy meeting and the work of the Supervisory Board was our multi-year transformation program.
One of the goals of this program is to establish a more independent, more efficient IT platform that is even better tailored to the requirements of DWS's fiduciary business. With a working group specifically set up for the transformation program from within the Supervisory Board, it advised the executive board on its implementation and continuously reviewed management's project goals, some of which proved to be overly optimistic.
As a result, the executive board made a number of adjustments to parts of the transformation program, which Stefan Hoops will explain to you in greater detail in a moment. We will continue to closely monitor this complex topic in the current financial year. Apart from the focus on organic growth, the Supervisory Board also discussed the possibility of pursuing inorganic growth options to achieve economies of scale, enhance DWS's product expertise, and expand its presence in growth regions.
Against this background, the past financial year was leveraged to explore business opportunities arising from strategic partnerships and the use of digital solutions. The key focus was on strategic partnerships in the Asia Pacific region. DWS was able to extend its partnership with Nippon Life for another five years. Moreover, DWS entered into a strategic alliance with U.S.-based Galaxy Digital to develop products for investment in digital assets.
I will come back to this move later on. Of course, the Supervisory Board also remains very focused on sustainability, a topic that continues to be of great relevance to the industry. In the process, the Supervisory Board and the Ad Hoc Committee, formed for this purpose in 2021, addressed the so-called greenwashing allegations in great depth.
The Ad Hoc Committee consistently gained insights into the status of the ongoing investigations and the further courses of action planned, keeping the entire Supervisory Board updated on this matter in a regular manner. An agreement on these allegations was finally reached with the U.S. authorities in the past financial year. At the same time, the Public Prosecutor's office in Frankfurt is continuing its investigations in 2024. DWS is engaged in discussions with the public prosecutor to resolve the ESG process as quickly as possible.
This is another topic that will be addressed in greater detail by Stefan Hoops in his speech in a moment. In the fourth quarter, there were further important developments regarding the future composition of our board. As already mentioned at the outset, and supported by the recommendation of the shareholder representatives in the Nomination Committee, the Supervisory Board decided to propose Oliver Behrens for election as a shareholder representative to the Supervisory Board under agenda item 7.
It is intended for the Supervisory Board to elect him as its new chairman, my successor, immediately thereafter. The nomination of Mr. Behrens was the result of an intensive selection process carried out over many months by the Nomination Committee under the leadership of my colleague, Margret Suckale, whose efforts are hereby gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Behrens will briefly introduce himself as a candidate for election to the Supervisory Board in a moment.
At this point, therefore, I will only briefly mention that Oliver Behrens is currently CEO of Morgan Stanley Europe Holding SE, Morgan Stanley Europe SE, and Morgan Stanley Bank AG in Frankfurt. He's also a board member of Morgan Stanley International Limited in London. His activities for Morgan Stanley are expected to end on the 30th of June, 2024. Oliver Behrens was also on the executive board of DekaBank for 9 years until 2014, most recently as Deputy CEO.
From 1992 to 2005, he worked in several positions at the former DWS Group in Frankfurt and Luxembourg, ultimately as Speaker of the Executive Board of Deutsche Asset Management Investment GmbH. We are confident, ladies and gentlemen, that we have found an outstandingly qualified candidate to complement and lead our Supervisory Board. I'm therefore delighted to welcome Mr. Behrens as designated chairman of the Supervisory Board, and I wish him every success for his new role. James von Moltke, CFO a
It was originally also planned to appoint James von Moltke, CFO and Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank AG, as a member of the Supervisory Board. After careful consideration, he has opted not to stand for election. This decision also reflects a Deutsche Bank policy to reduce the presence of management board members on supervisory boards of group entities.
At the same time, Bernd Leukert, member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank AG, as well as Chief Technology, Data, and Innovation Officer, has decided to step down from the Supervisory Board at the close of today's annual general meeting. Mr. Leukert had been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2020. His decision also reflects the Deutsche Bank policy I have just mentioned. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bernd Leukert for his excellent, constructive work on our Supervisory Board.
In recent years, he has enhanced the Supervisory Board with his strategic advice and technology expertise time and again. Ladies and gentlemen, I am certain that the new constellation of the Supervisory Board of DWS will continue to enable the parties to cooperate in a spirit of partnership in the best interests of DWS.
But let me come back to the activities of the Supervisory Board. As every year, the board also discussed the dependency report, which lists the company's relationships with affiliated companies, and thus with Deutsche Bank. This dependency report was drawn up by the Executive Board and audited by KPMG as auditor. KPMG did not raise any objections and issued an unqualified audit opinion. Its wording can be found on page Roman twelfth of the annual report 2023.
Moreover, KPMG has audited the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements, as well as the summarized management report for the annual and consolidated financial statements for financial year 2023, and issued an unqualified audit opinion in each case. Its wording can be found on page 149 and following of the annual report 2023 in the German version.
The Supervisory Board had no objections during its review of the dependency report and the audit report by KPMG. Likewise, there were no grounds for objections to the final declarations of the Executive Board. Ladies and gentlemen, the Audit and Risk Committee met nine times under the chairmanship of Ms. Wolf.
It supported the Supervisory Board in monitoring the control, reporting, and accounting processes, and intensively addressed the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements, as well as the interim report and the report issued by the auditor. In this context, the committee reviewed the valuation of goodwill and other intangible assets, as well as the service fees charged by Deutsche Bank AG and its subsidiaries, as well as related governance processes.
Furthermore, the committee monitored the effectiveness of the group's risk management system, taking into account the potential impacts of the conflict in Ukraine. It also examined the integration of sustainability risks into the risk framework. The Audit and Risk Committee held a number of extraordinary meetings in which, among others, the following topics were discussed, some of which have already been mentioned:
DWS's transformation program, the connections between the transformation program and DWS's controls and processes, audits of the IT systems and processes, and the charging of services within the group. For financial year 2023, the Audit and Risk Committee recommended to renew the audit engagement of KPMG.
The discussions took into account the results of the review of the statutory auditor's independence, which did not identify any indications for any risks to independence. Ladies and gentlemen, the Remuneration Committee, chaired by Ms. Suckale, held four meetings in 2023. It examined the appropriate design of the remuneration systems for employees and key risk takers who have material influence on the overall risk profile of the group.
In addition, the committee discussed the corporate culture and was regularly informed about significant regulatory developments and their impacts on the group's compensation framework. The Nomination Committee, chaired by myself, held a total of 11 meetings in 2023. It prepared the Supervisory Board's proposals for the election of new shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board by the annual general meeting on 15th of June 2023.
The committee also discussed the process for selecting our new designated chairman of the Supervisory Board, Oliver Behrens, as already mentioned. This selection process was conducted with the assistance of an independent executive recruiter under the leadership of Margret Suckale. The Nomination Committee also supported the Supervisory Board in carrying out its efficiency review. Details on the activities of the committees can be found on pages Roman eight to ten of our annual report for 2023.
Let me now turn to the activities of the Joint Committee in the completed business year. You will find more detailed information starting on page roman fifteen of our annual report. The Joint Committee met three times in 2023. In accordance with its statutory duties and powers, the committee discussed variable remuneration, the remuneration structure, and individual targets for the managing directors of the general partner in detail.
The Joint Committee submitted proposals on variable remuneration to the shareholders meeting of the General Partner, which is responsible for defining the remuneration of the managing directors and followed these proposals.... Ladies and gentlemen, following my comments, most of which are required by law, let us now move on to the more higher level business issues. In the 12 months passed since our last AGM, DWS has continued to make good headway in implementing its strategy.
Last year presented the restructuring efforts in the reduced part of our strategy, which were carried out at an early stage. These measures are designed to help DWS self-fund the investments in its growth and build projects. You will hear more about those two in a moment. In the value category, which covers DWS's active business, the company focused on changes in Active Fixed Income . In other words, actively managed products, investing in fixed income securities.
As a result, despite a challenging environment, they led to a very encouraging performance for our customers, thereby exceeding the respective benchmarks of their funds in many cases. In the framework of its growth initiatives, DWS focused on investments in the Xtrackers business, exchange-traded products, that is, particularly ETFs. Here, last year, record inflows were recorded.
Moreover, DWS continued its investments into its other growth area, Alternatives, with a focus on infrastructure and the push into private credit. In the build category, where DWS is targeting future trends in the asset management industry, the company launched the first exchange-traded commodities for digital assets as part of its strategic alliance with Galaxy Digital.
In addition, it has entered into a partnership to issue a fully collateralized EUR-denominated stablecoin. In other words, a kind of cryptocurrency that strives to achieve and ensure price stability. Ladies and gentlemen, you will hear more about the implementation of this strategy from our CEO in a moment. Let me now turn to our financial results for the past financial year. Despite a general improvement in market sentiment, 2023 was another very demanding year for the asset management industry.
Inflationary pressure continued, geopolitical crises increased, real estate markets were weak, and the revenue environment was tough. Supported by all of our three pillars: active, Passive, and alternatives in all main regions, DWS nevertheless generated high net inflows of EUR 28 billion last year. However, as average assets under management were lower compared to 2022, both adjusted revenues and adjusted profit before tax were less than in the previous year.
In an inflationary environment, our adjusted costs increased only slightly, demonstrating DWS's strict cost discipline. Based on this overall solid financial performance, we propose an increased dividend for the fifth time in a row of EUR 2.10 per share. Moreover, as promised when we announced our upgraded strategy in December 2022, we propose an extraordinary dividend of EUR 4 per share. Ladies and gentlemen, last year there were also two changes on DWS's executive board.
At our last AGM, I reported in detail that our former CFO, Claire Peel, had decided to step down from her position following a career change. She left DWS with effect from 30th of September, 2023. Although I already thanked Claire Peel at last year's AGM, I would like to express our gratitude once again in the light of the outstanding services she rendered to the company in over five years on the executive board. Her successor is Dr. Markus Kobler.
He was appointed as new CEO and member of the executive board as of 1st of November of last year. We are delighted to have gained a leader of his caliber and standing for DWS. With his experience as CFO of Allianz Global Investors, where he was also in charge of their U.K. operations and his long-term Asia experience, he's uniquely positioned to make an excellent contribution to DWS.
Another change on the executive board was caused by the shift in the focus in DWS's IT transformation project. In this context, Angela Maragkopoulou ended her role as Chief Operating Officer by mutual agreement with effect from the end of 2023. Angela Maragkopoulou is now pursuing new professional challenges, for which we wish her every success. We're very grateful to Angela for her contributions to developing DWS's platform.
In order to enable the new Chief Operating Officer and the COO function to fully focus on executing the ongoing IT transformation, Markus Kobler has assumed board responsibility for the Chief Operating Office. In this new constellation, DWS started off well into the new year, delivering a solid performance in the first quarter of 2024. It generated high net inflows of almost EUR 8 billion and increased assets under management to a new record of EUR 941 billion.
Although adjusted revenues were slightly down quarter-over-quarter, adjusted costs were reduced more strongly, so that overall, the adjusted profit before tax grew. In addition, consolidated profit also rose substantially. The results of the first quarter of 2024 and last year show that DWS's strategy is working well. They are testimony to the focused and passionate commitment of the executive board and all employees around the world.
On behalf of the supervisory board, and certainly on your behalf, too, dear shareholders, I would like to sincerely thank the entire DWS team for their great work. These efforts are also reflected in DWS's share price. This week, it achieved an all-time high, significantly exceeding the share price at last year's AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, given the progress made and the growth achieved, DWS is on track to reach its financial targets for 2025.
Along the way, the Supervisory Board will continue to support the Executive Board in a constructive and critical manner in implementing their strategy from now on, under the leadership of Oliver Behrens. Once again, I wish him every success.
Dear shareholders, also on behalf of my colleagues on the Supervisory Board, I thank you all for your confidence and your support. Ladies and gentlemen, our CEO, Stefan Hoops, will now present a more detailed report about DWS's business development and strategy. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Thank you very much, dear Karl von Rohr. Thank you very much for a lot of valuable advice and excellent leadership in a period which was certainly not easy, neither for you personally nor for DWS all in all. Thank you very much. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the entire Executive Board, I also would like to welcome you to the sixth annual general meeting of the DWS Group.
One year ago, I celebrated my premiere on this very occasion. At that time, I was called on to give account of a very challenging year in which we were primarily concerned with ensuring stability at DWS. Things are a little different this year. Today, I'm pleased to report on the first year in which we were able to fully implement our new strategy, a year in which DWS's stability was never in doubt.
Moreover, a year that an industry analyst had called the year of flawless market recovery, during which your DWS nevertheless recorded considerable net inflows totaling EUR 28 billion. I will come to the details of the figures in a moment, but here's the sneak preview. Even excluding cash and advisory services, net flows amounted to EUR 16.5 billion.
This means that in 2023, DWS recorded one of the highest organic growth rates among asset managers worldwide. I would like to take this opportunity, also on behalf of the entire team, to thank our customers for their continued confidence in the performance of our products. First of all, I would like to present the results of operations for 2023. In doing so, I will also report on what we've been doing over the past year.
In particular, the implementation of our strategy, which was announced at the Capital Markets Day 2022. Afterwards, I will give you a brief overview of the first quarter results of 2024 and bring you up to date with what we are focusing on this year. Let us first look back over the last 12 months. Ladies and gentlemen, on our Capital Markets Day in 2022, we presented our strategy:
Reduce, Value, Growth, Build. We promised the capital market, and thus you too, dear shareholders, ambitious financial targets for 2025. We want to achieve earnings per share of EUR 4.5 for 2025, and we want to reduce our adjusted cost income ratio to less than 59%. These two targets are priorities because, in our view, they are most relevant to you as owners of DWS.
They attest to the financial performance of DWS and set the benchmark for the business we want to focus on. On our Capital Markets Day, we also described the previously general growth rate for assets under management through two specific targets. By 2025, our goal is to grow total passive assets under management, primarily with regard to Xtrackers products, at a compound annual growth rate of more than 12%.
And for assets under management in alternatives, achieve a compound annual growth rate of more than 10%. After our Capital Markets Day, it was clear that the capital market would not simply accept these targets. DWS rather would first have to prove itself. There were several reasons for this cautiously positive response. First, the financial targets that we communicated are ambitious. After all, earnings per share were still EUR 2.97 in 2022.
Secondly, we first have to demonstrate that we are actually able to reap greater benefits from our excellent position. Thirdly, we have set ourselves ambitious strategic goals, such as accelerated growth and Xtrackers and alternatives, facilitating DWS's foray into digital assets, and contributing to the European transformation. All while maintaining a strict cost management and against the backdrop of the ongoing investigations into ESG matters.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we can say in 2023, we have been focused on achieving these goals, and this has been positively received on the capital market. First, the raw numbers. In 2023, assets under management rose significantly by roughly EUR 75 billion, driven by market movements, inflows, and exchange rate effects.
Particularly gratifying is the fact that at EUR 896 billion by the end of the year, assets under management were almost back to the record level of 2021. This is a good moment for a look back. We started 2022 at the aforementioned record level. During the year, however, the markets came under pressure from Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the interest rate hikes of the central banks.
Accordingly, we kicked off 2023 with a considerably lower assets under management of EUR 821 billion. Over the course of 2023, assets under management moved sideways for some time, despite good net inflows. It was not until the fourth quarter of 2023 that the capital markets recovered noticeably with a corresponding positive impact on assets under management, which were, as I just mentioned, were at EUR 896 billion at the end of the year.
Nevertheless, average assets under management remained lower throughout 2023 compared to 2022. In turn, this was one of the major factors behind lower management fees, which resulted in lower adjusted revenues of EUR 2.603 billion and adjusted profit before tax of EUR 937 million in 2023. Thus, earnings per share were EUR 2.76. Particularly encouraging was the adjusted cost income ratio of 64.0%, well inside the projected figure of under 65% for 2023.
Despite another challenging year for the industry, remember the flawless market recovery I mentioned, we returned to net inflows. Equally important, however, is that we have made huge strides in implementing our strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to clarify the progress on the basis of the four elements of our strategy. In the reduced category, we pledged to introduce the required cost-cutting and restructuring measures from the outset.
This was part of our target of self-funding the necessary investments in the growth and build components. At the last annual general meeting, I was able to report on progress here. For example, we completed the transfer of our digital investment platform to our strategic partner, BlackFin, and closed the sale and transfer of our private equity solutions business to Brookfield Asset Management.
In addition, we implemented unavoidable internal restructuring measures, one of which unfortunately also involved letting go of slightly more than 15% of our managers. We continued down this path during the rest of 2023, and most of the reduced measures have been completed. At the same time, we continue to explore what areas of business are strategic for DWS while maintaining our strict cost discipline.
Our cost management proved effective. In an inflationary environment, and despite all the investments in our growth initiatives, the adjusted costs increased by just 2% in 2023. As I said before, the adjusted cost income ratio was 64%. Although it's not one of our reduced initiatives, I would like to take this opportunity to present our multi-year transformation program, which Karl von Rohr already mentioned in his speech.
The project aims to streamline our operational setup and enhance our capabilities as an independent asset manager. In the second half of 2023, we undertook another comprehensive review of this project and made adjustments. Ultimately, in a nutshell, we are focusing on what makes us more competitive as an asset manager.
On the one hand, this means developing a policy framework that is appropriate for our business, and on the other hand, expanding internal function areas such as legal, finance, internal audit, and corporate communications.
Having made great headway in both endeavors, the finishing line is now in sight. With regard to IT, however, we opted for a hybrid model. The same applies here. Whatever gives us a competitive edge, we do ourselves. This includes setting up a DWS cloud environment, for example, and developing our own applications.
At the same time, we leverage economies of scale in our cooperation with Deutsche Bank. We continue to access non-differentiating services where the existing setup works well. For example, when operating data centers and networks, or in terms of hardware. The review established that the cost savings we had originally planned were not feasible due to various factors, such as inflation and the increased threats for cybersecurity.
Nevertheless, due to reduced transformation costs and the positive economies of scale achieved by using Deutsche Bank's IT, the hybrid solution is ultimately cheaper than a full separation. What's more, we avoid over-complex solutions that are prone to errors. Ladies and gentlemen, a major focus in the value category, which primarily covers our active business, was on changes in Active Fixed Income , where we also made personal adjustments in 2023.
Despite the challenging market environment, the team managed to halt the outflows of recent years, generate new inflows, and deliver improved performance for our customers. This is all the more gratifying, given that last year we made the commitment to anchor a positive performance culture even more strongly in the company.
We aim to deliver added value for our customers ahead of our competitors. We were even more successful in this regard in 2023 than in the previous year. For active in total, DWS improved the 1-year outperformance rate to 66%, the 3-year rate stood at strong 70%, and the 5-year outperformance rate rose to 76% compared to the relevant benchmarks.
This tallies with the fact that following the launch of the initiative in December 2022, by the end of 2023, we had increased the number of active funds with assets under management of more than EUR 1 billion by 14%, scaling our funds and improving their profitability. Ladies and gentlemen, active portfolio has always been the cornerstone of DWS and will continue to be.
By focusing on performance and innovation, we are well-positioned to succeed in an environment that remains challenging for active fund management. The general trend among our customers is clearly continuing towards passive products and thus towards self-directed business. Ladies and gentlemen, in a situation like this, you've got two options: You can either complain about this trend or prepare for it and actively support it, and we chose the latter.
As part of our growth initiatives, we also focused investments in the Xtrackers business, in other words, in passive last year. The result, passive asset management generated strong net new assets of EUR 21 billion in 2023, thereby regaining our position as the number 2 provider of exchange-traded products by net inflows in Europe. This is a clear sign that our strategy and investment is paying off quickly.
The commitment to our second growth area, alternatives, on the other hand, is more long term. We continued our investments in alternatives with strategic hires, the focus on infrastructure, and the push into private credit. We will report on this in greater detail later this year. There is no denying, however, that the interest rate environment put extra pressure on real estate markets last year.
For a player like DWS, whose alternatives business has one focus area in real estate, this was not an easy situation. Nevertheless, we were also able to post slight new net inflows overall in alternatives in 2023, and a turnaround seems to be on the horizon in the real estate market. We placed particular emphasis on the European transformation in 2023.
On the business side, for example, not only has our Infrastructure Europe fund , which we launched last summer, generated solid inflows of more than EUR 350 million to date. We promptly demonstrated our commitment by investing in the Klettwitz Solar Farm and three solar farms in southwest Spain. Additional infrastructure funds will follow, for example, as part of a series of pan-European infrastructure funds.... Our cooperation with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management goes beyond commercial interests.
Dialogue between academia, politics, and business is essential if we want to address the diverse challenges, but above all, the opportunities of Europe's transformation that lies ahead. We are therefore proud to have established the Center for European Transformation with the Frankfurt School. The center opened its doors in 2023 and held its first conference this year, inviting a fascinating discussion between stakeholders from politics, business, and science.
On a related note, I wanted to bring up an issue, an issue that I feel strongly about: the European elections that are starting today. We are one of the few global asset managers with European roots. Therefore, we have a vital interest in ensuring that the U in EU applies not only to freight transport, but also to services in the future.
Cross-border product distribution and a common set of minimum standards for tax and insolvency law are just two of the building blocks that would help establish a functional common capital market that would also send a positive signal for citizens. A common capital market is what we need to finance the essential innovations and digital solutions, thereby driving the transformation. Europe is not just our domestic market in terms of business.
Europe is also our cultural home, representing our core values. It has become all the rage in recent years to view Europe as a behemoth paralyzed by regulatory zeal rather than as an economic and social opportunity. This plays into the hands of divisive forces that seek to destroy freedom. That is why the elections that have just begun are so important.
Nothing less is at stake than a new positive European narrative, strengthening the peace and freedom project that is Europe as a geopolitical anchor. Reinforcing democratic, pro-European, but above all, diverse forces in the party spectrum is crucial in achieving this end. But let us go back to business. In the fourth category, build, we announced our goal of developing new areas of business. Last year, we entered into a strategic alliance with Galaxy Digital, which specializes in digital assets and blockchain technology.
And as promised, together, we made the most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, investable in funds in 2024. Moreover, we announced our intention to launch AllUnity, a partnership with Galaxy and Netherlands-based market maker, Flow Traders, whose mission is to revolutionize the on-chain economy by issuing a fully collateralized EU-denominated stablecoin.
This venture will bring us one step closer to blazing a trail for digital assets on the blockchain. Dear shareholders, another challenge we had to face in 2023 was the continued struggle with the ESG allegations, allegations that were still pending. Karl von Rohr already mentioned it. The settlement on the ESG investigations that we reached with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, last September, was an important milestone.
In its order, SEC found no misstatements in relation to DWS's financial disclosures, disclosures or the prospectuses of DWS funds. The order also makes clear that there was no intent to defraud. Nevertheless, SEC imposed a $19 million fine for weaknesses in processes and procedures, as well as marketing practices. We continue to stand by our financial disclosures and prospectuses of our funds.
In addition, we have already taken certain decisions and implemented a number of steps to enhance our processes and controls based on the insights gained. The settlement means that the file on the ESG allegations in the United States is now closed. By contrast, the investigation in ESG of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt is ongoing, prompting renewed media coverage in early 2024.
We are in talks with the Public Prosecutor's Office to finalize the ESG process, but the outcome is not known yet. As before, bringing this matter to a conclusion has management's full attention, whereby the timing is beyond our control. However, we can reveal how far we have come as a whole on our sustainability journey. I presented our revised sustainability strategy to you last year. We have identified three core areas.
First, we want to make new climate-related investment opportunities accessible to our clients. Second, we want to further strengthen our engagement with businesses and other relevant stakeholders. Third, we want to continue to drive our own business transformation towards a more sustainable future. Let me dwell on point two, our engagement with businesses for a moment. In April 2023, we published a DWS coal policy.
With this, investments in what are referred to as coal developers should be excluded from portfolios in scope of the policy. This applies to companies that continue to expand their coal-related activities. Moreover, the policy excludes any investments in companies that generate 25% or more of their revenues with thermal coal. Of course, some will always say that this type of coal policy does not go far enough.
Nevertheless, it is important to us that this realistic guideline will allow us to be instrumental in combating climate change in a way that is transparent and verifiable. Last year, we interacted with 27 coal companies. In other words, companies where up to 25% of their turnover is related to coal. We made our policy clear to these companies, along with our expectations regarding a coal phase-out.
Besides coal-related topics, we conducted more than 600 corporate engagements, exerting influence on roughly 540 companies. Our focus was on good corporate governance and environmental issues, such as climate change and water, as well as social topics. Engaging with companies will continue to be an important factor in enabling DWS to maximize its positive impact on their corporate management and business practices, particularly with regard to sustainability issues.
As an aside, naturally enough, there is public interest in hearing who we consulted, when, and what we discussed in detail. There are also expectations that we will ultimately exclude companies in the engagement process. We firmly believe that engaging with companies is especially fruitful when the engagement takes place on an equal footing with clearly formulated goals and expectations.
This requires a framework that is founded on trust, which is why we will continue to exercise restraint in communicating details about individual engagements. Dear shareholders, let us return to our review of 2023. We have achieved all of these results and advances in an environment that has not always made it easy for our industry, but above all, for DWS.
The fact that we were able to deliver it nevertheless, is due in no small part to the passion, commitment, and unconditional customer focus of our staff. Therefore, also on behalf of my fellow executive board members, I would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all our colleagues for their great dedication and continued commitment. Our 2023 achievements included not only forging ahead with our strategy and developing our business, our staff are also highlighted what DWS is all about.
The fact that all employees had the opportunity to contribute was a core element of the objective. What truly sets DWS apart is teamwork, cooperation between employees, regions, departments and divisions, generalists and specialists. Ultimately, we were able to advance the business because we have become better at combining our expertise.
As a European powerhouse with a global reach and a history spanning almost 70 years, we bring together the perspectives of 16 nationalities and over 900 investment specialists. This enables us to create real added value for our customers and for you, dear shareholders. We call it connecting the dots. It is our value proposition, our promise for the future in terms of performance. Talking about promises, this brings me to my last point for financial year 2023: we keep our promises.
That also applies to the extraordinary dividend announced in December 2022. Based on our solid financial performance, and as a clear affirmation of shareholder value, we are proposing not only an increased ordinary dividend of EUR 2.1 per share for the 2023 financial year, but also an extraordinary dividend of EUR 4 per share.
This extra payout of EUR 800 million is part of our commitment to return capital to you, dear shareholders, as promised. Ladies and gentlemen, even though today's report is mainly about 2023, I would like to briefly touch on our successful start to the current financial year. Although we have been reporting cash elements of net inflows separately for some time now, we also started showing inflows from advisory services as a separate category at the beginning of this year.
For net inflows and asset under management, we now distinguish between investments in cash advisory service on the one hand, and those that are typically longer term investments growth area passive, including Xtrackers, and supported by a return to net inflows in active. The company generated long-term net inflows, which means excluding cash and advisory services, of EUR 7.9 billion in the first quarter of 2024.
Including cash and advisory services, net inflows were EUR 7.8 billion, whereof EUR 1.7 billion came from ESG products. In the first quarter 2024, total assets under management rose by EUR 45 billion quarter-over-quarter to a new record high of EUR 941 billion, an excellent basis for future management fees for the full year. However, although the first quarter was encouraging in terms of net inflows, the environment remains challenging.
We therefore anticipate a significant burden on flows in the current quarter, especially in the low-margin areas where flows are generally more volatile. Looking at DWS as a whole, we expect this to lead to outflows in the low double-digit billion range. However, as these outflows relate to lower margin areas, we do not foresee any major impact on our management fees.
All of this brings me to my outlook for 2024 and beyond. We intend to proceed with much of what worked well in 2023. As an example, our commitment to a positive performance culture. Furthermore, we have set ourselves 2 main goals for 2024. At a fundamental level, our core active business is about producing alpha. In other words, a return above what the market itself delivers in terms of performance.
But our aim is not just to beat the market, but to outshine our competitors. This year, in addition to outperformance compared to the benchmark, we will therefore be paying greater attention to how we compare with the competition. Delivering added value in this regard is the only way to impress customers with the performance of our investment platform.
Secondly, we want to continue our growth momentum with further strong gains in Xtrackers, a stable flow situation in active, and an emerging turnaround in alternatives. We again want to post one of the highest organic growth rates among asset managers worldwide in this year. Looking beyond 2024, there are three priorities.
We have the ambition to be one of the top five in the top five. In other words, one of the top five international asset managers in the five largest economies. A key focus in that respect is to expand our foothold in Asia. It was already stated by Karl von Rohr. Our extended strategic alliance with Nippon Life and our partnerships in Asia will help strengthen our position in Japan, China, and India. Europe will still be our home market, however.
Now more than ever, we want to establish DWS as the gateway to Europe. Our ambition: if an international customer wants to take advantage of opportunities here, especially those offered by the European transformation, then we must be their first port of call. And last but not least, we have made a commitment to help shape the future of finance in the years ahead. Specifically, this means understanding and managing digital disruption in our industry better than the competition.
This applies to both artificial intelligence and blockchain. We are approaching these issues diligently and purposefully, because one thing is clear, we want to drive disruption and not be driven by it. Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude my remarks. DWS is well-positioned and highly motivated to systematically implement its strategy and fulfill the promises that we made to you.
We are confident that we will reach our ambitious targets for 2025, and therefore expressly confirm them once again. We want to achieve earnings per share of 4.5 EUR for 2025, and our adjusted cost income ratio is to be less than 59%. We realize that this means a great deal of hard work, assuming that markets continue to be favorable.
But what we can control ourselves is the focus on outperforming for our customers, keeping a tight, tight grip on costs, and consistently implementing our strategy. With commitment and passion, all of us at DWS will strive to achieve these targets again this year.... Thank you for your attention, for your trust.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Dr. Habeta. Dear Stefan, thank you very much. You gave our shareholders a very clear overview of the current state of our company.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, before we enter into the agenda, we would first like to commemorate the employees and pensioners of DWS who have passed.
[Foreign language]
I would just like to ask you to keep a moment of silence, and for everyone present, I'd like to ask you to rise from your seats.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this moment of silent commemoration.
[Foreign language]
We now establish attendance at today's AGM on the basis of the available data. I hereby announce the following attendance:
[Foreign language]
The share capital of the company in the amount of EUR 200 million is subdivided into 200 million non-par value shares.
[Foreign language]
At today's AGM, 178,646,451 non-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented. This corresponds to 89.32% of the share capital.
[Foreign language]
Absentee ballot votes for 160,103 non-par value shares have been received. All in all, this results in 178,806,554 non-par value shares being represented, which corresponds to 89.4% of the share capital.
[Foreign language]
The attendance list, ladies and gentlemen, can be inspected in our password-protected shareholder portal. Often the votes represented by the proxy holder of the company, shareholders and shareholder representatives who participate by electronic means are also recorded there.
[Foreign language]
The attendance list will be updated from time to time, however, without me announcing every change in attendance every time. Shareholders who are presently registered and proven their shareholding can use the shareholder portal to exercise their voting rights directly by absentee ballot or via proxies and instructions to the proxy holders of the company, or to change their instructions today. I will announce the exact point in time as of when no further entries can be made in the portal with regards to voting, of course.
[Foreign language]
Now, if you want to access the portal, please use the access data you received on the attendance confirmation that was sent to you after you registered and properly approved your shareholding. Also, please use the password that you defined after your first login.
[Foreign language]
Now enter into today's agenda, which covers 11 items.
[Foreign language]
Item number one is about the accounts of DWS for fiscal year 2023. This includes, among other things, the annual financial statements and the management report for DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, established according to the German Commercial Code and approved by the Supervisory Board and the approved consolidated financial statements and group management report, according to IFRS, as well as the report of the Supervisory Board.
Ladies and gentlemen, these documents, as well as the proposal for the appropriation of distributable profit, have been made available on our Internet homepage since the convocation of the AGM on April 25, 2024. Additionally, they were made available at our company premises.
[Foreign language]
The annual financial statements and the management report, as well as the consolidated financial statements and group management report, have been audited by KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. This is the auditor elected by last year's AGM. Neither the audit by the auditor nor the review by the Supervisory Board, which also included the proposal for the attribution of distributable profit, have given rise to any objections. The auditor issued an unqualified auditor's opinion.
[Foreign language]
The Supervisory Board has established the annual financial statement and the consolidated financial statement at its meeting on March eleventh, 2024. The approval is now up to today's AGM. Other than that, I refer you to my introductory remarks to the report of the Supervisory Board, which you can find on pages V to 12 of t he annual report for 2023.
[Foreign language] The auditors, Mr. Fox and Ms. Adilorva
The general partner and the Supervisory Board propose to pay out a dividend of EUR 6.10 per share from the distributable profit for 2023, which consists of an ordinary dividend of EUR 22.10, and an extraordinary dividend of EUR 4. Item numbers 3 and 4 is the ratification of the acts of the general partner and the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2023.
Item number 5, selection of the auditor and the group auditor for the business year 2024, as well as the auditor for any interim reviews under item 5.1, and the election of the auditor of the sustainability report under item 5.2. Now, when it comes to item number 5.1—5.1 and 5.2, based on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee, the Supervisory Board recommends to elect KPMG Aktiengesellschaft
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft as auditor and, and also as auditor for the sustainability reporting, which is expected to become necessary for the first time in 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, item number 6 is the annual resolution on the approval of the compensation report for the 2023 financial year. Item number 7 is about the election to the Supervisory Board. Mr.
Bernd Leukert decided to resign from his Supervisory Board mandate with the end of today's AGM. This is why a new shareholder representative must be elected today. Based on the recommendation of the shareholder representatives and the Nomination Committee, the Supervisory Board proposes to elect Mr. Oliver Behrens to the Supervisory Board. Item number 8, the general partner and the Supervisory
Board propose cancellation of the authorized capital pursuant to Section 44 of the Articles of Association, and creation of new authorized capital. Capital increases in cash and/or contributions in kind, with the possibility of excluding shareholders' preemptive rights, also in accordance with Section 186 three, sentence four of the Stock Corporation Act, German Stock Corporation Act, and corresponding amendments to the Articles of Association.
The proposed authorization is to open up the possibility of expanding the capital base of the company and to replace the existing authorization, which will expire on June 8, 2025. Now, the German Act on the financing of future-proof investments, the so-called Financing the Future Law, Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz.
The legal upper limit for simple exclusion of presumptive rights according to Section 186(3), sentence four, German Stock Corporation Act, was increased from 10% to now 20% of the share capital. However, the proposed authorization deliberately does not make full use of this extended legal scope. It remains with a volume of up to 10% of the share capital.
Under item number 9, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose cancellation of the authorized capital, pursuant to Section 4, paragraph 5 of the Articles of Association, and creation of new authorized capital for capital increases in cash, with the possibility of excluding preemptive rights to accept broken amounts or fractions and corresponding amendments to the Articles of Association.
And again, this authorization is to open up the possibility of expanding the capital base of the company and again, to replace the existing authorization, which will expire on June 8, 2025. Under item 10, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose cancellation of the existing and creation of a new authorization to issue participatory notes and other hybrid debt securities that fulfill the regulatory requirements to qualify as additional Tier 1 capital, AT1 capital.
This authorization is to strengthen the capital base and to provide the company with appropriate levels of regulatory capital, and it is to replace the existing authorization, which will expire on June 8, 2025. Item 11 is about two changes to the Articles of Association. Now, on the one hand, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose a resolution on an amendment of the composition of the so-called Joint Committee.
Pursuant to Section 15, paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association, two members are delegated by the shareholders' meeting of the general partner, and two members are delegated by the shareholders' representatives on the Supervisory Board. The number of members delegated by the shareholders' representatives on the Supervisory Board should be increased to three. On the other hand, item 11 is about an amendment of Section 22, paragraph 2 of the Articles of Association.
Now, by the German Act on the financing of future-proof investments, Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz, Section 123(4), sentence 2, Stock Corporation Act, was aligned with European law. Section 123(4), sentence 2 of the German Stock Corporation Act, now defines the record date as a close of business of the 22nd day, instead of beginning of the 21st day before the AGM. Now, this amendment makes an amendment of Section 22, paragraph 2 of the Articles of Association necessary.
My ladies and gentlemen, finally, let me point out that a counterproposal was published on our website in keeping with the legal requirements according to Section 126 and 127 German Stock Corporation Law. Now, precondition for doing this was that we received the counterproposal before the end of the 15th day, before today's AGM, and that it required publication.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my explanations on the agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, as already announced, and in addition to my initial introductory remarks, I would now like to give Mr. Oliver Behrens, as a new candidate for the Supervisory Board, the opportunity to briefly introduce himself to you. Mr. Behrens is here in the hall and will now address you. Mr. Behrens, the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Karl. Dear shareholders, my name is Oliver Behrens. I'm happy to introduce myself to you today. The Supervisory Board of the company put me forward as a candidate for the election to the Supervisory Board as a shareholder representative. I live in Taunus, I'm married and have four children.
I was born and raised in Bremen, and I studied in Hagen and Tübingen, studying Business Administration and a degree of Diplom-Kaufmann, holder of Diploma in Commerce study. My career was started with an apprenticeship as a bank clerk with Deutsche Bank AG.
After I started out in securities advisory in Pirmasens and in the trading area of Deutsche Bank in Mannheim, from 1992 to 2005, I spent these years in portfolio management and management of DWS and Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Between 2005 and 2014, I was a member of the management board of DekaBank, responsible for securities, funds, and trading. And my, my last role being Deputy CEO.
Between 2015 till the end of 2024, I've been CEO of the Morgan Stanley Europe SE for the banking group in Europe, ECB-regulated, with a balance sheet total of EUR 125 billion and 1,000 members of staff. Now, in this role, I'm responsible for the extension of all continental Europe business after the Brexit, and I'm responsible for all major banks and asset managers in the region.
I started off my career at DWS, and I'm familiar with the business model. Now I'm coming back to take over on the Supervisory Board. One might say I'm coming full circle. I hope that based on my experience, I will be able to make a valuable contribution in supporting, but also controlling, of course, the management of DWS Group. I'd be delighted if you were to support my candidature. Thank you very much. Oh, I forgot to switch on the microphone, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry. Apologies.
[Foreign language]
First of all, I'd like to thank Mr. Behren s for introducing himself and, I hope, ladies and gentlemen, this gave you an opportunity to gain a direct impression of Mr. Behrens. Now, let us now come to the involvement of shareholders at this virtual AGM, i.e., ways to participate and to interact. As explained at the beginning, the general partner decided on the basis of Section 131, para 1 A, in combination with Section 278, para 3 of the German Stock Corporation Act, to again make use of the possibility of pre-submitted questions and answers.
In that way, you can get written answers to your questions and have the possibility of then asking potentially rising add-on questions during the AGM. Now, the pre-submitted questions were then answered by the company by the day before yesterday in the evening, and then published on our website and make them available there. Now, questions and answers will remain available there during the entire durations of today's AGM.
Up until the stipulated deadline, the company received 71 questions from shareholders and shareholder representatives via the process laid out in the invitation. Ladies and gentlemen, when choosing the format for today's AGM, particular consideration was given to the exchange and dialogue with you, our shareholders. This was the case last year. This dialogue is facilitated via live contributions. Thus, you can basically enjoy all the rights as in an in-person meeting.
As the meeting chairman, in accordance with Section 131, para 1 F of the Stock Corporation Law, I determined that questions may only be asked in the context of video statements. This means when making use of the right to speak.
[Foreign language]
We look very much forward to a sound and focused exchange and dialogue with you at today's AGM. Let me also point out, for the sake of good order, that today only add-on question within the meaning of Section 131, para. 1 D, and questions on new matters within the meaning of Section 131, para. 1 E of the Stock Corporation Law will be answered.
Now, this does not limit your right to speak, but it means, however, that you should please focus on add-on questions to answers that were given before and during the AGM. Now, in this context, it plays no role as to whether you or another shareholder sent in this question or any question at all in advance, or if it was asked during the AGM.
Additionally, the administration will answer questions on matters that arose only after the end of the deadline for the pre-submission of questions. This is after June 2, 2024. What is decisive is that the question could not have been asked before the expiry of the deadline. Since about 30 minutes before the start of the AGM, you've been provided with the possibility to register in our protected shareholder portal if you want to take the floor via the Rede Beitrag button.
After clicking on that button, a template will open, where you can enter please, all the necessary information on the contribution you want to make, such as your name, telephone number, and your email address. Additional information can be provided in the comments box, Anmerkungen.
[Foreign language]
The speakers will then be contacted in the order and sequence determined by me and admitted to the waiting room after carrying out a functional test. In waiting room, you can continue to follow the meeting until it's time for you to make your own statement.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to ask you to register your request for the floor early so that we can plan ahead properly. In this context, I'd also like to ask you to mention or signal if you wish to comment on particular focus areas or submit a motion, so that I can take this into consideration when determining the sequence of speakers.
[Foreign language]
If you wish to speak again after having finished one statement, please kindly register again via the Redebeitrag button in the shareholder portal.
[Foreign language]
Based on the experience of the last AGMs, I do not assume that we will need a strict limitation of speaking time. Please, bear with me, that I will retain the right to do so.
[Foreign language]
Irrespective of that, I'd already like to ask all speakers to limit their statement to approximately 10 minutes-
[Foreign language]
So that speakers coming after them can take the floor within an appropriate time as well. Now, we have the same conditions for everyone. The speaker and myself, only the speaker and myself, will see a clock to provide a point of orientation.
[Foreign language]
After nine minutes have elapsed, the green display will change to amber, signaling the request to please make time for the other speakers.
[Foreign language]
After 10 minutes have elapsed, the display color will change to red.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, you will, of course, be free to register again for making another statement.
[Foreign language]
Now, in the meantime, ladies and gentlemen, the first speakers of the first group have arrived in the waiting room in order to speak to you.
[Foreign language]
The current speakers of the list are:
[Foreign language]
Mr. Klaus Nieding.
[Foreign language]
Mr. Daniel Bauer.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Mauricio Vargas.
Dr. Mauricio Vargas.
[Foreign language]
This is the first group so far, and we also have a second group, and I'll come back to that later on.
[Foreign language]
Now, ladies and gentlemen, or gentlemen rather, of the first group of speakers, please get ready.
[Foreign language]
Before we start with the statements, let me briefly remind you... Let me briefly remind you that you can exercise your voting right via the shareholder portal if you properly registered for the AGM, proving your shareholding.
[Foreign language]
If you decided or will decide in favor of the absentee ballot, or if you have or will give a proxy and/or instruction to the proxy holders of the company, you can cast your vote via the shareholders portal or also during the AGM, up until the time that I will be announced by me in the context of the voting process.
Up until that time, absentee votes already cast or instructions already given can be changed, can be also changed via the shareholder portal. Now, if you want to use the portal, please use the access data you received on the attendance confirmation that was sent to you and the password that you chose after your first login.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, once I have a better idea of the number and overall duration of shareholder statements, I will be more specific about the timeframe. However, I would already like to ask you now to start making any entries in the shareholders portal in good time, in case there should be any internet problems.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen.
[Foreign language]
The first speakers are now waiting to take the floor. We'll start with the first statement. Let me briefly remind you again to please stick to your speaking time of 10 minutes. I'd be most grateful for that.
[Foreign language]
If you already registered for taking the floor but decided then against making an envisaged contribution, please let us know. So, ladies and gentlemen, the first speaker, as I said, will now be Mr. Nieding. And then I'd like to ask Mr. Bauer to please get ready to make your contribution. Good morning, Mr. Nieding. The floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Good morning, Mr. von Rohr. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Klaus Nieding. I'm a lawyer based in Frankfurt am Main, and I'm speaking to you in my function as Vice President of DSW, Deutsche [Foreign language] Germany's biggest and largest shareholders association. Let me first of all comment on the format chosen for today's AGM.
Once again, you are escaping into a virtual format, and you are hiding away behind your screens instead of organizing an in-person AGM, signaling to us shareholders that you are appreciating us, because that is what it is, a lack of appreciation vis-à-vis the shareholders. That is what the virtual format is all about. And don't tell us about greater presence in a virtual format. The opposite is the case, as far as we know.
The attendance at Deutsche Bank actually showed that quite clearly. In in-person AGMs, Mr. von Rohr, you will remember, there used to be 6,000-8,000 shareholders in the Frankfurter Festhalle in an in-person meeting. But in May of this year, the virtual AGM, there were fewer than 300 participants. It is quite indicative that you seem to be signaling what your focus is on, because your supervisory board meetings, for the most part, were held in person.
This says it all. And in order to top this all, your employee, Hendrik Schmidt , calls at AGMs of other companies, such as recently at Volkswagen AG's AGM, for a change back to the in-person format, because otherwise this would be a limitation of shareholders' rights. So this is quite indicative, and this means that you are preaching water and drinking wine yourselves.
Please return to the in-person format. The numbers presented and the greenwashing allegations may be another reason why you are still having virtual AGMs. That's why I'm asking the following questions: Adjusted earnings per share are EUR 20 million below the previous number. Earnings per share are 21 cents below 2022 numbers.
On the other hand, the adjusted CIR rose by nearly 4%, so these numbers are anything but great. At the same time, you're telling us that you're going to pay us a higher dividend than last year. Does this make sense at all? In your financial report, you're saying that your top priority is, first of all, achieve savings, so as to make sure that we can finance our investment in value growth and build ourselves. Against this backdrop, does it make sense at all to decide about distributing a special dividend?
You're saying that our company was one of the fastest-growing asset managers in 2023 in the world by net inflows without money market products. Please tell us more about the ranking so that we can see ourselves where we stand among our peers. Although in the course of the year, at +EUR 75 billion, we achieved significant growth, average assets under management were low, lower than in 2022.
Please tell us more details about the root causes for this, and what is your planning for the next three to five years? Our CIR is now 64%. In your annual report, you're pointing out that this is clearly within the range of less than 65%, forecast by DWS for 2023.
If you said this is significantly below this range, well, this is not my understanding, because I think we're basically at the, at the fringe. Please tell us more about the adjusted CIR of our peers. As everywhere in the entire Deutsche Bank group, we have problems with our IT, so there are delays in our IT transformation products.
Please tell us more about the root causes. Where, where do we stand in terms of IT? Are there any other construction sites we don't know, whether against the background of the IT problems, what's developing here is a good or a bad development? Because, Mr. Hoops, you were saying you're planning to use Deutsche Bank IT. This is what you said in your speech, Mr. Hoops. I'm not sure this is a reason for us to be happy.
You've rightfully, proudly pointed out that in 2023, we managed to increase slightly the number of funds rated with four or five Morningstar stars, with a volume of more than EUR 100 million. Where do you come from? Well, what is the increase in terms of these ratings? Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, greenwashing is still high up on our agenda.
Mr. von Rohr, perhaps you can be more specific than in the annual report and in your speech today with regard to the current state of play. You've referred to the ESG investigations of U.S. authorities, which have been concluded. Please tell us more about the specific situation at this point in time.
The public prosecutor in Frankfurt has not yet concluded the investigations, as you said, so this seems to be a constant problem, and from my point of view, this shows that the public prosecutor have not yet found enough substance to sue us and submit this to the court. What is your assessment of the situation? When is this horror expected to end? And in this context, you're saying you have come to an agreement with the U.S. authorities.
How, and what, what is the specific result of this agreement? AI, it's a point that everyone's talking about these days. Sometimes you find, well, we don't know whether we should be happy about this, but where can we use AI in the future to simplify or improve our business? What is the direction we are doing research into in this respect?
Then, what has struck me is that Claire Peel and Angela Maragkopoulou left, and without you voicing any words of thanks, and you simply said that they had left in mutual agreement. Please tell us more about the specific circumstances of these two ladies leaving the company. What is your view with regard to the future expected development of the share price?
So much for my questions, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to use the opportunity to thank all employees for the work performed in the financial year under review. Above all, we would like to thank Karl von Rohr, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, for the many years of service as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Mr.
Von Rohr, I have always appreciated the dialogue with you, and I, I've always found, found it to be particularly fruitful and productive, and I'm happy you will continue to be on DWS's supervisory board as a regular member. So this guarantees continuity, because we all know that new brooms sweep very well, but the old brooms know all the bad corners. So than k you very much.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Nieding. Thank you for your contribution. And in particular, thank you for the last few words you made. Yes, I'm sure we will stay in touch and continue our dialogue in other channels. So the next speaker is Daniel Bauer.
[Foreign language]
After Mr. Bauer, we will have Mr. Massa and then Dr. Vargas . Mr. Bauer, the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Mr. von Rohr, thank you very much for granting me the floor. Let me first of all introduce myself. My name is Daniel Bauer. I represent SdK, Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger, and I represent our members and those that are using us as proxies. Ladies and gentlemen, I can only echo the criticism voiced by Mr. Nieding. The format of a virtual AGM needs to be criticized in any case, and what I find particularly sad today is that you've chosen a format whereby we've had to submit questions in advance, and we can't raise any questions at this point.
We always, of course, are happy to provide questions in advance in order to enable you to prepare for the answers, but I think it is very sad we can't really ask any new questions here today, and we can only focus on the written answers to the questions that have been pre-submitted. I, I presume that many of the shareholders have not yet had a chance to familiarize themselves with the questions and answers pre-submitted, so it's not a good idea.
I've got a number of questions related to some of the questions posed by SdK, and I've also got a number of new questions resulting from the speeches given here today. First of all, I would like to know how many shareholders are taking part in this virtual meeting. So what was the top number of shareholders logged into this meeting?
How many shareholders have already downloaded the answers to the questions pre-submitted by us? This gives us an indication as to whether or not this format is successful in the first place, and whether questions pre-submitted and answers given are actually read by shareholders in the run-up to the AGM. Next, I've got questions regarding the current situation.
Well, yes, we've got a number of construction sites, I would say. If I take a look at the annual report, first of all, of course, we've got the allegations concerning ESG, of course. Now, if I've understood things correctly, you seem to have got rid of all the problems in the U.S. by paying a fine. In Germany, the investigations are continuing.
We've had another raid, which is not good because it's always, negatively covered by the press, and you could have avoided that, I'm sure, because, of course, this will damage the reputation of DWS. I think that compared with others, you seem to have, solved the problem quite smoothly, above all in the U.S., but I'm expecting you to also, concluding this issue in Germany as well in the near future in order to get rid of it.
In general, I think last year, and above all in Q1 2024, our business, in terms of, net new inflows, seems to have been running well. I can only congratulate you on the convincing numbers, in particular for Q1 2024. Now, regarding, my comments, or my, ideas to be submitted to management, you shouldn't chase after every business and every transaction.
If you take a look at what happened last year, you will see that also the CIR has deteriorated and commission fees have also declined. So overall, fees declined, and there was a decline in income as well. And I believe you should take a very close look at what you're doing before you do it. You should decide which products to retain in the market and check every single product for its potential contribution margin and results. Because, of course, you commended yourselves in the annual report for launching lots of new products and reflecting many new trends. That's okay, I would say.
And of course, you want to have products available to meet demands, but you should also take account of economies of scale, because if you have a fund with EUR 300 million of assets under management, then this is probably not much fun for the company. They can't really be very profitable in the light of high costs, unless you want to stables and let investors down, but that's not what you want.
So I w ould only encourage you to closely monitor cost income in order to achieve the target of 59% that you have set yourselves, and so as to be able to achieve it in the near future. What else would I want to say? Well, regarding actively managed funds, I would say you've performed very well in passives and alternatives. You're also doing very well for actives.
Well, it's okay, I would say. Not bad, but I think you could be doing better. Here my question is, how many of the actively managed funds will beat the benchmark in the time frame of 5-10 years? And my question is, perhaps you could tell us numbers for each individual fund here.
Break this down for each fund, for the actively managed funds, and also tell us which of the actively managed funds did not beat the benchmark within this 5-10 year time horizon. And perhaps you can tell us what you're planning to do to further improve these funds in the future. What else have we got? I think the other questions we pre-submitted have been answered. I hope shareholders will read these answers then as well.
Well, another point I was going to raise is as follows: the board mentioned the Capital Markets Union as essential. Well, in the banking sector, over the past few years, we've been able to see that many French banks have put their, have started to take action in the German market, while this seems to be a one-way road. So the same phenomenon is not to be observed the other way around.
So how is DWS doing in the EU, in the individual EU markets? Why do you believe... Well, I'm not referring to any specific fund business, but if you take a look at BNP, BNP Paribas, Consors, et cetera, the trend seems to be such that in banking overall, French peers, French competitors, seem to be pushing onto the German market, while an opposite trend is not observed.
So perhaps with regard to DWS, where do you stand in terms of your position in the EU, and from your point of view, how does this relate to the Capital Markets Union, and where do you believe, where does management believe we are standing at this point in time? Because I believe it's not a very advanced position over the past 10 years.
In my views, it haven't really been any major improvements. Everybody's doing what they like, I would say, and we are quite far from being able to speak of a genuine Capital Markets Union in the proper sense of the term. Next, my voting behavior for today, very briefly. Well, the financial statements, okay, I think we will approve that. Appropriation of net earnings, okay.
The dividend of EUR 2.10, well, at least 40% of group income needs to be paid in the form of a dividend. Well, as far as special dividend is concerned, we can only thank you here. You're also keeping up with your promise of giving back profits to investors. So thank you. I will not approve ratification of the acts of management of the general partner. I think you've done it well in the past financial year, but we will not approve the acts of management or the ratification of the acts of management because we believe there are some issues with regard to the strategy.
We would also have wanted to have an in-person AGM, which is also what other companies are calling for, so what you also seem to be calling for at other AGMs, so you should be setting a good example yourselves. Mr. von Rohr, you're looking back upon a very constructive year, so I wouldn't see any reason not to ratify the acts of management of you.
And as far as KPMG's election is concerned, well, you decided after Wirecard not to change to EY, but to retain KPMG. I've got nothing against KPMG, but they've got a long history of working with Deutsche Bank, and the 10-year period has already been exceeded, if you include their services for Deutsche Bank.
So I can't approve the election of KPMG, so I would suggest you should try and look for a new auditor, at least for the next financial year. I think you would have had enough time even now to find an alternative auditor. Compensation report, fine. Election of Oliver Behrens, fine with us. Yes, we will vote in favor. We can only congratulate you on finding Oliver Behrens, a highly qualified candidate.
I know it's not easy to find somebody who's not conflicted, who's got all the expertise, hasn't already got a certain number of mandates elsewhere. So you've found a very good candidate with Oliver Behrens, and I'm happy to see that he's going to be a future member of the supervisory board of DWS. Regarding the capital creation resolutions or draft resolutions, yes, we will approve this.
You've referred to exclusion of preemptive rights, 30%. Yes, I think that's fine with us. Item ten here, of course, we can also approve. Item eleven, changes, amendments, of some sections in the other association. That's fine with us. There are some statutory amendments, so no problem, we can approve this. I've needed slightly more than 10 minutes, I'm sorry, but I would still like to take an extra minute to thank everybody, thank all employees, thank the management, thank the boards.
Thanks a lot. I wish you every success, and I hope that the capital market environment will remain this positive in the next few weeks and months, so that we all can do good business in the capital market. I wish you all the best for the future. Thank you very much for your patience. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and have a successful AGM. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Bauer, for your contribution, also for your follow-up questions, and also for explaining your voting behavior to us. It's always helpful for us to understand this. Now, the next speaker, and I can already see him on my screen, is Mr. Massa of the Association of Critical Shareholders, and then he's going to be followed by Dr. Vargas of Greenpeace, who I'm also would like to ask to get prepared. Mr. Massa, the floor is yours.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Mr. von Rohr. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm speaking on behalf of the Association of Critical Shareholders, and with the voting rights transferred to us, we once again ask you to show strictly more commitment to climate action and human rights protection.
Let me once again echo the criticism that has been voiced about today's format of the AGM, as the two previous speakers already said, and also the possibility of asking questions and follow-up questions. I know that that's the legal requirement. We already saw at Deutsche Bank that this is a bit of an issue, and I fully agree with Mr. Nieding and Mr. Bauer to a certain extent, ignore the regulations and the rules that you have set.
We're not going to ratify the acts of the general partner, because we do not see sufficient transparency in getting to terms with the greenwashing scandal and other transparency issues. And in this context, I've got a couple of follow-up questions. But first of all, I'd like to come back to the greenwashing scandal and the way you have dealt with it.
Now, as Mr. Bauer said, if the public prosecutor again comes to your offices for another raid earlier this year, I mean, this is not a good sign of trustful cooperation, but I know that the proceedings are still ongoing. But here I've got a question regarding the answer that you have given. Mr. Bauer and his association had a follow-up question on question 16.
Now, what are your specific findings and insights? And you were somewhat vague and general. You said you set up two working parties, and you're doing a lot, but that's not really specific. And the SEC, they have complained about the misstatements in the marketing documents, although no such misstatements were found in the prospectuses, I agree.
But can you give us a specific example of which specific ESG-related marketing statements you would not repeat, and how you have replaced with what kind of wording you have replaced these statements? That would help us very much.
Now, on engagement and divestments, we had submitted a couple of questions on this, and, well, for us, it's still not really clear which specific action you are taking, in which cases. Mr. Hoops, you already stated it in your speech, and you directly responded to our criticism, which we had already voiced last year. Now, of course, your engagement must take place in an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Now, we don't want to have any verbatim minutes of your engagement activities, but maybe you could at least specify some clear targets that you have set and what happens if there is some kind of course violation that you detect there. What happens then? And then your answer to our question number 36 that we had submitted beforehand.
Now, here, once again, you ask for understanding, then you don't want to disclose any details on engagements. But that, that's something that stunned me, because you just published your stewardship report for 2023, and you have also now published your AGM speeches at the other companies you're invested in, for example, those of Hendrik Schmidt. And there, we have some details on your engagement with Aurubis, and here we had a specific question, and that's why I'm so stunned about your answer.
So here, once again, more transparency is something that you should also provide if you ask exactly this from others. And then in your Stewardship Report on page 42, you report that last year you sent 7 escalation letters to companies, and you had there, in that, those cases, concluded that your previous actions had not been sufficient. So which are these companies, and what was exactly your criticism?
And if you don't want to give us the names, then at least the country, the industry, and the rough topic. I mean, you're already doing this to a certain extent in your Engagement Report, which by the way, was disclosed in just right before the AGM, and that collided with the deadline for submitting the questions. But nevertheless, I've got a question on this as well.
Now, you mentioned one example, a Swiss mining group, where you were not really satisfied with what their behavior. Now, did you now check their sustainability report, and which conclusion did you draw? Will there be further escalation? What exactly does the Swiss mining company do in order to prevent further escalation of yours? Can you still rule out a divestment in this case or not?
And what are your activities and decisions regarding the other six companies which you were not satisfied with last year? Have you by now sent out further escalation letters, and if so, how many? And how many companies did you exclude from your active management activities, and for what reasons? Now, once again, back to engagement.
In your question, in your answers, you clearly criticize the legal risks in cooperating with other investors, and here you're asking for legal certainty. Now, what are the legal obstacles that you have seen in this regard, and could they be overcome? Do you have specific examples of where a joint engagement has caused legal problems, or is your restraint just based on theoretical considerations? And what does it take to get that legal certainty that you're asking for, and how do you lobby for that?
Do you have any indirect influence onto the legislative process on a national, European, or international level? Is there any timeline for these activities and efforts of yours? And you've mentioned that future cooperation will be dependent on these legal risks. Are there ongoing initiatives or pilot projects where you're testing potential cooperation?
If so, in how many cases have you had concerns about acting in concert and have thus also discontinued any existing cooperations? We have cited some studies highlighting the advantages of such cooperation. Now, do you take these studies into account in your engagement activities and strategies? Now, talking about plastics.
Now, we had asked for a plastic policy last year. You still do not have it, but in your answers, you still say that's an important topic also in your engagements. So which criteria do you apply? Do you go by the UN plastics agreement, and if not, why not? And which specific actions and initiatives have you taken since the last AGM to address plastics pollution in your portfolio?
Also, talking about Coca-Cola, have you considered up going for a more intense engagement strategy, or have you also considered potentially divesting if the greenwashing allegations are more substantiated? We had also asked about your investments in autocratic states. Now, you seem to have these in investments, but you say to a small extent.
Now, what does to a small extent mean, and how do you make sure that in these investments, your ESG criteria are met as well? Do you have specific additional policies for investments in autocratic states? And can you specify autocratic states which were ruled out because of violations of international agreements? And how high is your share in Russian bonds in % and in absolute euro numbers, and how have these numbers evolved compared to 2022?
Would you also consider engagement activities with Russia, and if so, for what reasons? Or if not, why not? One more general question about your engagement activities regarding government bonds. Do you have any plans to enhance your engagement activities to further countries? If so, which ones and for which, on which topics?
You mentioned one European country, and you sent a letter to the EU regarding that country. What was that country, and what are your possible consequences if that country does not comply with your expectations? Can you give us more details on that engagement? Do you apply the usual escalation measures regarding sovereign bonds, or did you adjust them? My last question is about index providers.
In your answers, you say that you're seeking dialogue with index providers, for example, regarding potential exclusions of coal developers and comparative or reference indexes. Now, have you entered into that dialogue, and what is the current status of these, this dialogue, and with which index providers? Because, you know, with passive assets under management are increasing where your criteria don't apply. I mean, then the best policies for active funds don't help. Thank you very much, and I'm looking forward to the answers to my follow-up questions, and thank you very much for your kind attention....
[Foreign language]
Well, thank you very much, Mr. Massa, for your contribution, and also for really having read our answers so diligently and having thus raised the follow-up questions. We now turn to Dr. Vargas from Greenpeace. He is the last speaker in this first round.
[Foreign language]
Hello, can you hear me?
[Foreign language]
Yes, we can hear, and we can see you, Dr. Vargas.
[Foreign language]
Excellent. Good morning. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to talk to you. I welcome all of you, dear shareholders, members of the Management and Supervisory Board. Now, let me tell you at this point that due to technical issues, I was unable to submit questions. The admission ticket and access data I had asked for have not reached me.
Now, Mr. Hoops, congratulations on the major challenges that you tackled in the difficult year 2023. But if you're really seeking a challenge, then try to register for your own digital AGM. And then, well, and this already brings me to my very first question, which goes in the same direction as those of the previous speakers.
Namely, whether you have deliberately chosen this digital format in order to avoid having to directly face your shareholders and stakeholders now, like our organization. It really is contradictory that you're exactly asking this face-to-face communication in your engagement criteria. I will come back to that. Engagement is very important for your own work, but what you're doing for yourself undermines your public statements, actually.
But that's not my main point. Quite in contrast, I do have a couple of questions that have arisen, but many of them have already been touched upon by the previous speakers, especially Mr. Massa. So I'd like to focus on the key open questions that I have, then I can hopefully also be a bit shorter. Now, coming back to what you have said, Mr.
Hobbs. Now, I and many others, we see many other major challenges. Now, we had the heat waves and the droughts in the years before, which cost lives, and currently, now we have the floods in southern Germany, which once again shows very clearly what the climate crisis actually is going to mean for us.
And at the same time, we have convened here at the DWS AGM, and DWS, as you have said yourself, is Germany's biggest financing and company benefiting from the climate crisis. At least EUR 17 billion or EUR 18 billion of DWS funds are directed into oil and gas companies that are extremely harmful to the environment.
What is so dramatic is that these companies have positioned themselves in such a manner which has shown that they don't care a damn about climate protection, but that they rather enhance their activities, thus further actually stoking the heating of the climate. In your address, I haven't heard a single word about that special responsibility which DWS, as an investor, has in this continuously exacerbating climate crisis.
Now, that speaks for itself, and that makes me actually speechless and helpless. So maybe you can once again explain the way you see your role, because it seems to me and to many others that it seems to be the new strategy of DWS to actually simply turn a blind eye to the climate crisis, and that's exactly my question. Is that it?
Simply ignoring that topic or pushing it aside and ignoring the what's happening in the real world? Well, talking about turning a blind eye to things, and it's already been touched upon before, but here I would like to be more specific. Namely, which lessons did DWS and you and the top management draw from the greenwashing scandal, specifically?
And also specifically, whether any clawbacks or damage claims have been brought forward against your predecessor, Mr. Wöhrmann, namely Asoka Wöhrmann, or whether you have looked into that possibility. And it seems that you indicated that although record fines have been imposed, there was no wrongdoing, actually. That sounds contradictory. And you said that DWS is not fighting any damage claims because this would mean that you admit that there was any wrongdoing. Am I right in...
With this kind of interpretation, or am I wrong? And this brings me to my next question, to you and especially the supervisory board, namely, whether you are aware of how the public views the way you handle the greenwashing scandal, because your reputation has been damaged massively, also in the public view, but that has even been rewarded with a really golden handshake, and I feel that this scandal has not been managed well and has gone to the detriment of the shareholders.
And this goes back to my initial question, how do you deal with questions of climate protection? And in the pre-submitted questions, many shareholders asked for more transparency or more clarity or straightforwardness in your climate strategy.
Here, you have described your communications or PR strategy, namely how you want to deal with, especially the oil and gas companies that are harmful to the environment. You don't want any exclusions, and the reason is that you want to remain in touch with those companies. And of course, that raises a lot of questions if you consider the fact that the big oil companies do not really care very much about this dialogue.
At the last AGMs, many of those companies, but also behind the scenes, they clearly bid farewell to their climate goals, although these goals had not been ambitious in the first place. So does it really make sense to hope for any effect from those dialogues with those companies, if these companies do not really care about that dialogue in the first place?
And your strategy, which you also once again highlighted in your address, Mr. Hoops. Let me summarize what you call strategy, and I put this in quotation marks. You favor an approach which, first of all, wants to exclude divestments in the first place, but on the other hand, your preferred tool is dialogue and engagement.
But at the same time, you know that the oil majors, they're really rather moving into a different direction and want to massively expand their business. And allegedly, you also address this when you talk to these companies, but you don't want to comment on this publicly. So you say you want to be more transparent in your engagement process, but you don't want to disclose any details. And Mr.
von Rohr, you were just happy about the previous speaker announcing their voting behavior, why don't you create a bit more transparency either? And if you say that you build on engagement, but at the same time, you don't want to use the most effective tool of engagement, namely a cooperative engagement together with others.
So, is this a kind of obedience versus especially U.S. regulators, or what is the reason? And DWS does not seem to actively pursue its climate and sustainability strategy at other AGMs, and doesn't want to really explain the logic of their voting behavior to us and the public. So, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know how you feel about this, but this strategy of DWS, it seems like lost to me.
If you look at the fossil energy companies, I mean, I think they rightly so have the impression that DWS is not serious about climate protection, at least as long as the dividend is right. So that strategy of planlessness seems to be doing quite well for you, and you seem to be satisfied with that. But with every da y of inaction, that gap between promising climate protection on the one hand, but not taking any action, that gap is widening. So you really have to walk the talk. Otherwise, this would, in my view, once again, be in greenwashing, and you do have your own greenwashing experience already anyway.
So regarding the risks about that walk-talk gap, I once again would like to rephrase one key follow-up question: What speaks against setting up a plan for these companies harmful to the climate? A plan which also includes the final step of excluding these companies from your investments. And last year, upon our request, you indicated that you would be working on oil and gas policy, but you did not specify any timeline, and this year, the same again.
Why is it so difficult for you to provide clarity and a binding document, a binding policy? We're not expecting a document which is going to be awarded a Nobel Prize, but I simply do not understand why you cannot come up with that policy. And that question is not only for you, Mr.
Hoops, and the executive board, but also for the supervisory board. And here, once again, I do not understand why you allow the management board to beat about the bush with these investment policies that are so urgently required, and to wait until at some point, the regulator will force you to take action. So after all of these scandals, what, what prevents you from providing for more credibility, at least in climate action? Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Dr. Vargas, thank you for your contribution. Ladies and gentlemen, this completes the first round of questions. Currently in the second round of speakers, we have two shareholders who would like to take the floor. If you still want to take the floor, please, could I ask you to register them now, so that we can make the requisite technical provisions to that?
[Foreign language]
So this gets us to the second group of speakers. The first speaker is Julia Dubslaff, from the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre. Mr. Dubslaff , the floor is all yours...
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Wunderbar! Thank you very much. We can see and hear you.
[Foreign language]
Excellent. Thank you very much for that. So thank you very much for allow me to speak and also thank you for answering all the pre-submitted questions. And a big thank you to all the shareholders who are present in the digital format, and I will not repe`at the criticism that was waged on this, which I share. I'm Julia Dubslaff.
I'm speaking for the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, but I actually work for Urgewald, which is an NGO working for the environment and human rights. Now, in the context of our work or due to the context of our work, it shouldn't surprise you that I also like to focus on fossil fuels and fossil fuel companies. Mr. Hoops mentioned it this morning.
There is a coal policy which somehow works in the framework that it set itself. And Mr. Varges already mentioned it, and I wholeheartedly suppose this, with a view to the continuing climate crisis, it is essential to become active in the area of oil and gas.
Now, last year and this year, in your answers to our pre-submitted questions, you have actually made it fairly clear that you are not working at a comprehensive oil and gas policy or that you are discussing it. You will understand that this is not acceptable from our point of view. We find over and over again that DWS invests quite considerably in oil and gas, and has been doing so and continues to do so.
On the basis of our database, investments in the six groups, BP, Eni, Shell, TotalEnergies, Chevron and ExxonMobil, amounted to EUR 4.5 billion. We are happy to send you details on this calculation. Now, actually, it should be about investing or change investments into sustainable business models. Those six majors, when it comes to the path to a lower CO₂ economy or zero economy, that was not a path that they chose.
Quite to the contrary, in 2022, they produced 7 billion barrels in terms of oil equivalents, and they can do another 32 billion. So in addition to this, the six oil majors in the last few years spent about $7 billion for the exploration of new resources. And you know this, as you said in your answers.
So these companies are clearly not compatible with the Paris Agreement. And in Southern Germany, I'd also like to point out that people have understood that there is a connection, because people in Southern Germany feel the consequences. But you still insist on wanting to accompany these companies in their so-called transformation and not to divest.
Now, I believe signal that goes out is: "Yes, we wage a bit of criticism, but don't you worry, we will not leave you out on a ledge. We will not go away from you entirely." So this means that at the cost of the climate and people on the side, such as in Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique or the Philippines, for example, you are benefiting from a very helpful business model. I have a few questions.
Some of the questions were already answered or there was mention of them, and I hope you will be very concrete in your answers. Otherwise, we will have to ask again. I have the following add-on questions to the answers that you already gave. When it comes to the a Global Oil and Gas Exit List of Urgewald, do you know about this?
You wrote that you do not know how high the production numbers are. If you do not know the GOGL, the Global Oil and Gas Exit List, why don't you have a look at it? Because the colleagues who do this list, you know, are very, very precise and very diligent in the way they draw this up. Next question. Wie ist es mit der
Now, when I asked for the oil and gas policy, you sidetrack and you say that there are some ESG products which use the ESG investment standard filter of the DWS. Now, question: Is there any other ESG standard that products could use apart from the ones that you have on your mind? Also give us a number for the assets under management in those products, so the products that follow this ESG investment standard, and also please give us the number of the sub-funds.
And I believe, or partial funds, and I believe that it's possible to give us those figures, although you say that these are different levels. I'm not asking about the asset classes or the umbrella funds, but the sub-funds or partial funds.
Now, when it comes to the ratification of the acts of management of Shell and you... I mean, your voting and your engagement, I mean, the main point that is raised, and this is also the main point that I raise. It is said that science does not agree as to whether what is more effective, divestment or engagement, for example.
Now, I also refer back to my previous speakers. I believe that your engagement process is not, does not lead to anything, is not target-oriented. Now, if you say that, you know, we looked it up and we saw that some management board members of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell were not, at least their acts were not, ratified.
You know, you referred to your proxy voting policy, and I'm, I'm aware of your proxy voting policy, but I would still like to know, and I, I'd love a concrete answer just for a change, why the Shell and TotalEnergies management board members, their acts were not ratified, or you did not re-elect them. Because in the voting policy, you, there are several reasons for why this could be possible.
Also, you say that it's difficult to assess the individual performance of individual board members from an external position and to reliably assess that. And this is why I'm asking myself, and how far do you... When it comes to Andrew Mackenzie and Catherine Hughes of Shell and Patrick Pouyanné, where their acts were not ratified, or they were not re-elected by you? Right.
Please also explain in that context why your proxy voting policy has this as a standard, because it says that DWS votes against a candidate if they do not, did not treat questions of climate change appropriately. And I spare you, I spare you quoting the English quotation, the English original. Also, I'd be quite interested to know how you really go about engagement.
You know, quite, I don't know. I mean, DWS knows that the six oil majors, Shell, BP, Eni, Chevron, Exxon, you know that more than $7 billion are being spent by them every year, or were spent by them per year for further exploration.
You also know that they are amongst the big producers, and you have been in dialogue with these companies for years on their transformation plans and net zero targets, which, as you know, are not compatible with limiting the heating up of the Earth to 1.5 degrees. I simply do not know how this goes together, you know. The companies expand, and they do further exploration. You know that it's not compatible with the 1.5-degree target.
You say that the transformation plans of TotalEnergies and Shell are insufficient. You vote against the management board members, at least some of them, but you also admit that generally speaking, it is difficult to say if progress of a company can be attributed to one specific engagement, because there are different reasons that could have led to that. But, you know, Mr.
Hoops, as you explained this morning, engagement is one of the focus areas of your activities, right? And I repeat myself, your products are invested in those six companies at the amount of more than EUR 5.4 billion, and you still believe, you still believe that you are accompanying, or you can accompany these companies on their way out of fossil fuels. Last question: When it comes to the investment in these companies, do you see a financial risk? Do you believe that investing in those companies is a reputational risk? Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Ms. Dubslaff, thank you very much for your contribution and your questions. Next speaker is Christoph Greitemann. And after that, Mr. Felix Jahn asked to take the floor, and after that, we have no further requests for the floor. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to ask you, if you want to take the floor, please, register them now. But first of all, Mr. Greitemann, the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Mr. von Rohr. Members of the management, members of the supervisory board, dear co-shareholders, dear employees, and friends of DWS, my name is Christoph Greitemann, and I'm not here in my professional role, but as a private shareholder of DWS and as an activist for the topic of: Bring more women to asset management. Before I ask my questions, I'd like to ask everybody who committed themselves, worked for, to commit themselves when they worked for DWS. I think this has not been appreciated enough. Now, women in asset management.
Two reasons why this is important: because diversity is a performance driver, and I want to see more performance. Allocation of capital will be a better world for all of us. Now, let me give you a bit of context. Women in asset management. On the basis of the annual report on Alpha Female of Citywire, the share of women in fund management is at a low 12%.
I mean, 88% men is a no-go, but Germany is doing even better in inverted commas. They only have 6% of women when it comes to fund managers. DWS is already working on that. The annual report is elaborating on this and on the World Women's Day. Stefan Hoops communicated on this as well.
On the basis of investor relations, 150 of the 165 fund managers are women. This is 27%, and this would be well above the average, and at an in-person meeting, you would get a lot of applause for that, and you would have deserved it. However, this count, this count is a headcount count. I mean, usually women work for smaller funds, so the women's share for assets under management is much smaller.
The big investment ships are usually managed by men. So what is the situation here at DWS? An example for where women work for many funds is the Women for Women fund of DWS, which DWS always boasts about in their PR work, you know, as their commitment to women. Now, what's strange about this is two things.
We have 13 female fund managers, but the volume is only EUR 36 million, which was even decreased over the past few months. So the question is, when it comes to the sales activities or when it comes, do they all... Does this also get a lot of support, or is it only a PR tool? Does it get more PR support than it gets sales support?
You know, is it just a PR measure? Secondly, the fund is not diverse because it's managed by women only. What we would love to see is mixed teams, which, according to what DWS say, bring the better performance. So we have the... We get the impression that women get a little sandbox so that they don't get in the way of the big man and the big ship funds.
So now, when it comes to performance, I would like to see div ersity. I don't want to see any pink islands, but I want women to be integrated into the big funds of DWS. Is this also funds where people take a leading role? And, what is gratifying are efforts in the U.K. and in the United States of DWS, where diversity is fostered via many different formats, for example, day in the work of a fund manager or the talent program, et cetera, et cetera.
The question is, why don't you do this in Germany? And so these activities are good and laudable, but then there are also aspects which are strange, you know, and which, which make me think that you, Mr. Hoops, and your colleagues need more decisiveness, figures, parameters.
There are hardly any industries where they play such an important role as in asset management, and there's hardly any company where you have so much knowledge as at DWS. But according to what investor relations tells us, the numbers that are accumulated when it comes to women asset management are rather sparse.
For example, the number of gender-diverse investment teams is not being recorded. What would also be interesting to know is the share of women in the material risk takers. Now, what's also somehow bothering is the Women for Women fund. So it is. It's always used to explain the commitment of DWS for women. No, I already had that. I covered that. What is also bothering is their personnel structure is reported on under admin.
This leads me to think that you have a very restricted idea about what HR work really means, especially as it is your heads. And then also, you have a LinkedIn post of Dirk Görgen, which is fairly strange, and Stefan Hoops commented on this positively in this post, which dates back to January.
After the DWS Investment Day, Dirk Görgen said, "We did it again," and he posted a picture, which I cannot show you now, but you can find this on LinkedIn. And there are lots and lots of men on stage and just two moderators in the middle, and at the fringe, there is one woman, and they carry flowers, a bunch of flowers.
.[Foreign language] Now, you know, this comes across as, this gives the impression that women are fringe figures or hold, are moderators. You know, this is a cultural artifact that we should take seriously. Now, I close here, thanking for whatever was achieved, and also I'd like to ask you to be more decisive about this topic. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Mr. Greitemann, for your contribution, and also a big thank you for your kind comments on our employees. And the next speaker would be Mr. Felix Jahn. After that, Mr. Giebel registered to take the floor, but first of all, Mr. Jahn. Hello, and the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Yes, hello, Mr. Jahn. Thank you very much for allowing me to ask my question. I'm a small shareholder of DWS, but also a DWS client. I own some products. My previous speaker from Greenpeace said that he had not received the invitation in due time, and as Mr. Hoops keeps saying, wherever appropriate, that DWS is a showcase. I can show you my letters of invitation.
What you probably can't see is that both letters were sent on the third of June, and I received the letters on the fourth of June, and so, of course, there was no way for me to ask questions and pre-submit questions, given that the deadline for the submission of pre-submitted questions was second of June. In any case, I've got a question regarding item seven, Oliver Behrens as your successor.
Well, according to his agenda, he was, was Morgan Stanley Europe Holding SE previously. I've taken a look at the perspectives, which dates back to 2018, March 13, where Morgan Stanley was also a joint book runner in the IPO of DWS, but this was Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc.
I'm not sure whether or not there are any firewalls, but you will know, or Ms. Suckale will know, or whoever checked this will know. But my question is, did Ms. Suckale also check C-7 of the German Corporate Governance Code, C point 12 of the German Corporate Governance Code? Because this is also a matter of advisory, and if I'm not mistaken, Morgan Stanley is also in the advisory business.
But as, Financial Times recently wrote, well, they covered some sort of a hit piece against DWS, whereby you seem to have had an inflow of consultancy, which you also include. And in the prospectus at the same time, you said assets under management are assets held either on behalf of clients and/or clients managed by DWS on a discretionary or advisory basis.
This is what the prospectus said at the time. So what is the difference between discretionary and advisory basis, and how do you define these advisory mandates? Perhaps this would be interesting to know, because it's a big issue at this point in time. And that was all for me. Thank you very much for accepting my question.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jahn. This was really fast. Thank you. Next, we will grant the floor to Jörg Ulrich Giebel. Mr. Giebel, the floor is yours, and welcome.
[Foreign language]
Vielen Dank. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I am asking for notification according to 125 (10), section 129 (5) of the German Stock Corporation Act. My first question is related to other services for the board. Please explain the 5 biggest items for the individual board members with the relevant stating the relevant amounts.
My second question relates to the works council. Under Section 37 (1) of the German Works Constitution Act, the members of the works council are not paid for their activities. They deliver unpaid work, but many works councillors see this differently and handle this differently. Bernd Osterloh, the former Volkswagen head of the works council, received EUR 750,000 per year, including bonuses.
Four Volkswagen managers in 2022 were sentenced by the Federal Supreme Court because they had approved these high payments to works councilors at the time. Generally, works councilors can be paid in Germany under two models. One of the models is based on the customary payment of counterparts in the company, and the second model is based on what's called the hypothetical career.
So it is assessed what the career of the employee might have been like, had he or she not been a works councilor. This was quite a popular model for paying many works councilors in Germany for a long time. In its written decision, the Federal Supreme Court said this was no longer possible. The successor to Mr. Osterloh, Daniela Cavallo, who has succeeded him as chair of the works council, has now paid under a different model.
In 2021, she earned about EUR 100,000 per year, while Mr. Osterloh had earned EUR 750,000. Volkswagen had to cut the pay for about 80 of the 250 works counselors after this court ruling. In some instances, they had to cut it by half. One of the leading works counselors fell... Well, you may not know what this means, but from EUR 6,100 to EUR 3,800 per month.
So this will tell you more, I'm sure. Against this backdrop, my question is: after the court ruling of 10th of January 2023 by the Federal Supreme Court, did DWS have to cut the pay and/or bonus payments for full-time trade union officials in many... In how many cases was this the case?
What was the maximum, the minimum, and the average cut in the pay made to these works counselors in euros and in percentage terms? Please explain your model of payment for full-time trade unionists at DWS AG, please. Well, for the entire DWS group, I'm sorry. Please tell me the number of full-time trade unionists, fully released from duty or colleagues working similar functions in DWS Group.
Please tell us the top, the bottom, and the average pay for full-time trade unionists in the group. And by way of precaution, I'm pointing out that you cannot refuse to answer these questions by referring to data privacy. So according to the court ruling, questions regarding or conclusions regarding the pay of individuals are no longer possible if you refer to, for example, pay ranks or pay brackets. Next, people with severe disabilities.
There's a requirement under paragraph 160 of the SGB, whereby employers have to pay a fee, a compensation, if they do not employ a sufficient number of people with severe disabilities. This is EUR 25, given a 3% requirement, to employ people with severe disabilities, and the fine is EUR 220 million-
It's 3%.
-for the category of 2%-3%, if they only employ 2%-3% of people with severe disabilities. So please tell us about potential payment DWS has had to make under these legal requirements last year, and please tell us what the-
[Foreign language]
reasons are for not fulfilling the statutory requirement to employ a certain percentage of people with severe disabilities in the group. Next, Supervisory Board and its committees. Which members of the Supervisory Board took part in which or did not take part, or only partly took part in meetings of the Supervisory Board and/or its committees? For which meetings were proxies appointed, to vote for them in the voting processes?
Please tell us if there were any meetings where board members, Supervisory Board members, were not present, or only present during a part of the meeting, and also give us the names of the Supervisory Board members, by telling us which members took part in what meetings only in a virtual format, that is online.
Please tell us about the qualification criteria for the members of the Supervisory Board and their allocation, the allocation of these qualifications to the individual members. This is what we call a qualifications or skills profile. Please tell us how you would classify the members standing for election. Next, shareholders, in specific terms, meetings with shareholders and shareholder representatives.
How often and when did members of DWS meet shareholder representatives, shareholders, or potential investors who are wishing to invest in your company? Please tell us for each date, which topics were discussed. Please tell me about, or send me the information passed on at these meetings. Next, the cost of the AGM. Please tell us what the cost of last year's AGM was, what the cost of this year's AGM is, and please tell us the five biggest cost items and the relevant amounts.
Please tell us about the cost of food and beverages for last year's AGM and for today's AGM. Please tell us, well, and in food and beverage, please also tell us what this was. So list the five biggest items. Please tell us the maximum and minimum number of participants at the last AGM held in person.
At last year's virtual AGM and today's virtual AGM, what was the cost per participant on average at these three AGMs? My next question relates to the notary taking notarized minutes. What are the skills and qualifications required in, and taken into account in selecting the notary for a today's AGM by the Supervisory Board? And please don't tell us about, by referring that these are the statutory requirements.
I would like to know for how many years the notary present here today has been taking notarized minutes at DWS's AGMs in the past. Should this be seen in analogy to the auditor? Are there any statutory maximum timeframes within which a notary might have to be replaced? Have you checked the independence of the notary taking notarized minutes?
If so, how, and what are the specific criteria used? So don't just refer to legal requirements, or don't just tell me, "Well, we believe he's independent." No, please tell us specifically what the criteria are that you have checked. What percentage of the total income of the notary were made up by payments from DWS in 2023? And don't tell me that you don't know, and don't tell me you can't tell us for data privacy reasons.
This is not permitted because this is actually a key criterion for the assessment of the independence of the notary taking notarized minutes, so it is a criterion that you yourselves have or should have checked. Any lack of information in this respect can disperse potential doubts among the shareholders with regard to the neutrality and suitability of the notary public, or well, to nurture such doubts.
The right to independence is important. This is a fundamental right of a shareholder, because shareholders are entitled to obtain information, because this is inevitable for them in order to exercise their rights as members and investors in the company. Only an informed shareholder can fulfill his or her role in the framework of the company.
At the same time, there might also be a collision with rights you both have under the legislation. Normally, if a shareholder were to be deprived of the possibility of obtaining a clear picture of the company or the notary taking the notarized minutes. So the rights of shareholders also include the right to obtain such information, and both the Federal Supreme Court, as well as various higher regional courts have handed down rulings in this respect. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Giebel. You've referred to Section 32. We will take note of this. We will come back to this. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point in time, we have no further requests for the floor, but we have received a lot of questions, so I would suggest we should interrupt the AGM for 30 minutes, and then we, we'll provide the first round of answers.
If any of you, ladies and gentlemen, were to request the floor once again in the meantime, please let us know at this point, so that we will be able to also give you the floor and take your questions here at today's AGM. I now interrupt the AGM for 30 minutes, that is, until 1:15 P.M. So that's 31 minutes, but that's easier for everyone. So thank you.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, so we are back from Frankfurt. I apologize for things having taken a bit more time. Although we, we've had fairly few contributions, we had a fairly large number of questions. I was still in the process of answering some of them. But at this point, at least, we would like to provide you with those answers that we have already finalized. And for this, first of all, I'd like to hand over to Dr. Hoops , who is going to talk on behalf of the management board and the general partner.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Karl von Rohr. Ladies and gentlemen, today, some of the questions were asked, for example, by you, Mr. Nieding and Mr. Bauer, which you had already submitted beforehand. Now, we have answered these questions properly beforehand and published the answers on fourth of June on our publicly accessible website. Therefore, we do not wish to read out the answers here once again. Furthermore, today, we have received a couple of questions which did not refer to answers already given or to new matters, and which could also have been asked by prior submission.
These will not be answered today either. Many aspects are already included in our financial reports, for example, the annual report regarding the composition and qualification of the Supervisory Board members. Irrespective of this, interested in having a dialogue on these matters as well. So let us please discuss these questions after the AGM together with our investor relations department. Now, before the AGM, we had already received questions from NGOs on climate action, biodiversity, deforestation, microplastics, and other relevant plastics.
At today's event, you were. You pointed out to the importance of these matters, rightly so. Before giving you the detailed answers, let me start with some general comments first. Today, we as a company, we present our reports to you as a company, but DWS is not just a company, but it also consists of more than 4,600 employees, which are thinking about our Earth, either as individual persons or as members of the company.
That's why it's also, for all of us, very important to protect the climate. That's why climate protection is to be firmly established in our product offering everywhere. For that purpose, DWS entered into various commitments, and many of our colleagues are volunteering in these activities as well. With our assets under management, we've got the responsibility to exercise influence and cause respective companies we're invested in to take a corresponding action.
But there's also certain limits to the influence that we can bring to bear, because we're not managing our own funds, but the funds of our customers. And we also try to live up to our responsibility by trying to influence our customers in the way they invest their funds. But at the end of the day, we have to act as fiduciary agents and invest the funds in the way customers wish to do so. And some of them, of the customers, already invest their funds in securities that have already been issued and which they have purchased from third parties or third sources, and therefore, here we have only an indirect influence.
With all decisions that relate to sustainability, we comply with the commitments we have entered into in the context of net zero. We analyze all of the scientific findings on this matter and take them into account in our decisions, and we also take geopolitical and social questions into account, where we do have responsibility, for example, with regard to a just and fair transition.
And now this brings me to my answers to your specific questions. I'm starting with various questions by you, Mr. Massa. Dear Mr. Massa, you asked about our actions that we have taken in terms of engagement and divestments. The question that you have asked, and this is question 23, namely the question of, we actually walk the talk, and you also asked for some specific objectives.
And to tell you what is not happening in at the companies we're talking to. Now, the questions that you have asked was already answered when we answered various questions submitted beforehand, for example, question number 46. Please, therefore, understand that we do not want to provide any further details on individual engagements at this point. You also asked whether.
Now, you sent us the links to specific studies dealing with potential cooperation with other investors, so that's the important question of: Why doing this on our own and not together with others? And you asked whether we take these studies into account in our engagement strategy. As already specified in answer number 37, we perform our engagement activities always on our own, also against the backdrop of capital markets legislation. You also asked about engagement activities with countries.
Please understand that we do not wish to comment on future engagement activities. As usual, respective engagements will also be entered to, and will then be covered in our, engagement stewardship report in the future. Dear Mr. Massa, you also asked about the share of Russian, governmental bonds in our portfolio. Now, since 2022, that number has reduced significantly from more than EUR 1 billion in 2021 to less than EUR 10 million as of the end of April 2024.
Also, against the backdrop of the existing sanctions, we do not consider Russian activities. You also asked according which criteria we take engagement actions in terms of plastics. Now, we cooperate with portfolio companies of various branches worldwide, where plastics plays an important role. And for example, we ask these countries to improve their disclosures in terms of packaging and materials used.
Furthermore, we urge these companies to set targets for the reduction of plastics, for the use of untreated carbon, and in terms of recycling of plastics packaging. We also are committed to the development of alternatives and circular models, and here we've relied, for example, on the recommendations of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which are geared towards recycling and improving the product life cycles.
Ms. Dubslaff asked whether we are aware of the global exit list for oil and gas. Ms. Dubslaff , yes, we are aware of that list, and we also use it internally in our discussions. There was a question on greenwashing. Can you give us a specific example to explain which ESG marketing statements are not used in that wording anymore, and which new wording you have adopted in this regard? Now, here you have to really see what-...
But it's the difference between exaggerated and exuberant. And now we have said we believe that we have used exuberant wordings but not exaggerated wordings. Now, imagine you've got 100 of something. If I were to say that's 200, then this would be exaggerated. That would be a lie, and we strictly rule out things like that.
Now, if we were to say, "This is one and half the greatest, most wonderful hundred that you have ever seen," that this would be exuberant. And we believe that this is what we did in the past. For example, by having said that ESG is a part of our DNA, which obviously is not the case. I mean, that's not biologically part of our DNA, and we also said we are greener than the others.
So we admit that this was exuberant, and we refrain from doing so in the future. And I think you will also have seen that we act very cautiously on other matters, for example, AI. So we're doing probably the same as many others do, but we are very cautious in how we comment on this, on these matters in the public or in dialogue with others.
So we want to use a very sober manner of dealing with these matters, and we want to walk the talk, which means we want to deliver what we promised. Mr. Massa, you asked about our dialogue with the index providers, and you also wanted to know which providers we talk to and what the status of these talks is. Now, the dialogue with index providers takes place, which include, for example, MSCI, S&P, and FTSE.
On the status of these talks, we basically refer to our answer provided on questions HV 24-67. Dear Mr. Vargas, first of all, we very much regret that you had issues in registering for our AGM and submitting questions. We are very, very glad, really, that you joined us nevertheless. Now, on your follow-up question. You asked why once again, we opted for the virtual AGM format and whether we did so deliberately in order to avoid a direct face-to-face discussion with our shareholders.
Now, in his opening address, Karl von Rohr already explained to you why we opted for the virtual format today, and two questions submitted beforehand also dealt with that matter. So let me once again summarize our answers. Now, for us, it's about, above all, about reach, easy access for shareholders, and saving costs.
Let me also mention that at the last AGM, a great majority of more than 98% of the share capital represented voted in favor of the virtual format. We want to offer a format that is a shareholder-friendly one, and we regret very much if you gained a different impression than that. You also asked whether... how we see our role against the backdrop of the climatic disasters and why we are avoiding that topic in all of our actions.
Now, as I told you before, climate and the environment play an essential role for our employees and also for us as a company. Of course, take these matters into account in our product offering, in our policies, and also in our actions.
I also expressed that we have the responsibility for the assets that we manage on behalf of our customers, and that we try to use this to exercise influence. But I already told you that there are certain limits to the influence we can exercise. At the last AGM, we presented our updated sustainability strategy to you, which is geared towards the challenges of climate change and tackling with them.
We also would like to refer to our 2022 annual report. French banks or any other banks. You also asked in a follow-up question to the initial question submitted as number 35, you wanted to know about the position of DWS in the EU markets.
Now, as described in our answer, DWS has In Germany, we are present in all relevant markets, especially in France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and the United Kingdom. We also do have our offices and employees working in those countries. In Europe, the assets under management of DWS at the end of the year 2023 amounted to approximately EUR 633 billion, which represented about 70% of the total DWS assets under management.
Now, here we feel well-positioned in our home region, Europe, and of course, it is our intention to maintain that position by focusing on existing and new partnerships, and also in order to enhance that positioning any further. This brings me to the capital markets union. Fundamentally, we support the efforts geared towards a capital markets union.
I already had told you in my address today, it would be very decisive to have to set up a properly functioning common capital markets, which would also provide a positive experience to consumers and citizens. We need this common capital market in order to... The management has asked me to take individual questions directed to the supervisory board, or which should be answered by the supervisory board, and of course, I'm happy to live up to that request.
The management has declared that they fully subscribe to the answers I'm going to give you now. Now, first of all, Mr. Bauer, I've got two answers to two of your questions. As you can see, we have divided them up between Mr. Hoops and myself. You asked how many shareholders have logged on today so far and what the peak number was.
So far, 100 different shareholders had logged on the shareholder portal, and at peak times, 86 shareholders were logged on at the same time. In addition, another 353 participants watched the live stream of our AGM on the Internet.
So all in all, the peak number was 439 participants. 1,000 downloads of AGM-related documents have taken place from the German and the English websites, and these... Well, there's about a 50/50% share of downloads from the German and the English website, and I hope that you understand that for technical reasons, we cannot really distinguish which specific AGM documents have been downloaded.
Dr. Vargas, you asked about possible breaches of duties and potential damage claims related to ESG allegations against the DWS management, especially against the former CEO. Now, let me answer this question as follows: In our annual report on pages 5 and 10 on the report of the supervisory board within the annual report, we declared that within the supervisory board and the special committee on ESG, that ad hoc committee especially dealt with the impact of the closure of the ESG matter.
In this context, together with the external lawyers of DWS, the supervisory board verified diligently whether potential damage claims could be filed against existing or former management board members for breaches of duties, and whether these damage claims could actually be exercised with regards to the SEC allegations.
And that review clearly showed that such damage claims cannot be asserted because there is no reason to exercise them or to file them, and that's why we did not file them in the first place. And Mr. Hoops has got one more answer, so I'll hand over to him again. "Yes, I've got answers to three more questions, actually," says Dr. Hoops.
So it's once again for a question from you, Mr. Vargas. You asked: What speaks against setting up a plan to exclude oil and gas companies that are harmful to the climate? And you also asked about the actual impact of such dialogue. So these are your questions, 40 and 42. As already stated, we think it is very important to support companies in phasing out their business with oil and gas.
And we talk to companies in the oil and gas sector, and also in sectors driving a demand for oil and gas. And for that purpose, we use different kind of tools, and we assess them also in terms of their efficacy. As part of the ongoing further development of our engagement and the voting policy, we have adapted our net zero expectation for oil and gas and have rendered it more specifically.
These net zero expectations, they can already be seen reflected in our voting policies. Now, in Europe, all in all, we use a comprehensive exclusion policy regarding fossil fuels. In 2023, the respective list was further enhanced. We exclude companies from our actively managed ESG portfolio, which generate 10% or more of their revenues from oil and gas extraction.
We also rule out companies from our actively managed ESG portfolios, which produce revenues from unconventional extraction of oil and gas, which includes Arctic drilling, shale, and shale gas. Furthermore, you, Mr. Vargas, also had a follow-up question on the oil and gas policy. I'm gonna look if we just got some.
First of all, I refer you to the answer to the question submitted beforehand, namely question number 73. As described in that answer, we consider oil and gas criteria already today in excluding certain product groups, and this is also part of our dialogue with companies as part of our engagement and voting processes. On a continuous basis, we review our actions on oil and gas. Currently, we're discussing an oil and gas policy, and doing so, we also take the interests of the various stakeholders into account. And now, one last question from you, Mr. Bauer. You asked: How many of the actively managed funds-
To the answers, the answer to the AGM questions. How we want to improve? Our volume-weighted five-year gross outperformance rate at the end of the first quarter 2024 was 78%. The remaining 22%, by the end of the first quarter, were not able to beat their respective benchmark. Of this, almost half are products from fixed income of institutional customers.
And the sustainable change of the interest rate environment affected that performance. Of course, the fixed income business was massively dependent on the highly volatile environment, where the expectation towards actions by the central banks changed continuously. So here, we have major restrictions in the contractual policies that we have in this regard.
Even if you have a certain market view, which would be within the framework of the existent, existing investment policies, and we, of course, always want to, in this way, also contribute to the positive performance-related performance culture in our company. Now, I know this was very much legal wording.
Now, this means actually that in the investment divisions and also on the management board, every meeting starts with a performance review. And whenever you convene, and if you talk about performance on all those occasions, then this is a action that improves performance, as you asked about. Thank you very much. Now, I've got one more answer for you, Mr. Jahn.
You asked about the previous activities of Morgan Stanley for our company and the effects on the independence of Mr. Behrens, whom we are suggesting or proposing as a candidate for the Supervisory Board. The necessary independence questions were asked and investigated during the selection of a candidate by Mr. Kobler, and also answered. As I mentioned, his activity for Morgan Stanley ended as of the end of this month, so we see no restriction or limitation with regard to his independence and no conflicts of interest.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, we currently have no further answers to your questions, so we would have to have a break again. I'd suggest that we take a break of another 30 minutes. Mr. Hoops, do you...? Okay, okay, he does have answers. Okay. So, feel free to continue.
[Foreign language]
Feels like live TV. So we have another three answers. Mr. Massa, you asked for concrete engagements in connection with Coca-Cola. We are. We remain reticent when it comes to details with engagements, and we hope for your understanding. Mr. Massa, also, you asked about which EU country we sent a critical letter to. Please, bear with us. We will remain reticent when it comes to details, and we ask for your understanding. We ask for your understanding.
It's a little bit out- Another more a longer explanation on a question re: cooperation with peers for engagement. Mr. Massa, you asked about the legal hurdles that we see against a cooperation with other investors and how these legal or statutory hurdles could be overcome.
You also asked for concrete examples on how we try to influence the legislative process. If we understand your question correctly, cooperation means cooperation with external shareholders who are not part of the DWS group. In Germany, it's Section 33 WpHG of the German Securities Trading Act that says something about this. In Section 34 of the same law, the consequences of a so-called action in concert are being elaborated on and stipulated.
In the issuer's guideline of the BaFin, you find further, no, more concrete responsibilities are being elaborated on in a guidance and guidelines of BaFin. We would like to refer you to Section 1.2.5.10 on acting in concert. So, voting rights, joint voting rights declaration have to be provided if shareholders agree on matters or, or act in concert with regard to certain matters, otherwise it would be improper acting in concert.
The continuous monitoring of voting thresholds and living up to these requirements, apart from operational hurdles, would also give rise to risks with regard to an European antitrust regulations. So when it comes to elaborative engagement and acting in concert, there's no clear delimitation.
This, as we see it, we have no legally binding delimitation as long as this is. We try to bring about a clarification of that. Since the beginning of 2022, or at the beginning of 2022, DWS already started cooperation with the BaFin. Also, with the. It also talked with the Ministry of Justice, as did other market participants. The examples given.
Sorry, it's handwritten. So the examples were given, and they were developed with DWS cooperating with other members of the professional associations, and we contributed to that. So, and we provided this to BaFin for comments. So, we do not believe that it is sufficient to claim individual exclusions. And we would also like to point you to 24-37 and 39.
This is the answers that we gave to these questions or to similar questions. Mr. Giebel , I have an answer to one of your questions. You asked about the participation of supervisory board members in the supervisory board plenaries and committee meetings, and you also asked about the question as to whether participation was, were in online only, also duties of the supervisory board members.
Unfortunately, I cannot give a full answer to this very detailed and specific questions because we had not received them before the meeting. But when it comes to the participation of supervisory board members in the plenary and committee, please, I'd like to refer you to page 10, Roman 10, of the annual report.
It also gives details on virtual meetings, and you will also find information on the competencies of the individual SB board members and also the competency profile of the supervisory board. And this is also, too, for page 8 of the annual report. And Mr. Hoops, yes, we have an additional answer.
Okay. And for a very important question, namely the question raised by Mr. Greitemann. Mr. Greitemann, thank you very much for your questions on women in asset management, and also for your statement on the value of gender diversity in society and in the economy. Allow me to a personal, I mean, diversity, and especially gender diversity, is very important to me. I'm a father of 2 girls, 2 of them listening to them.
I'm aware of so-called pink islands, and I am very critical of them, no doubt about this. And this is not the only reason why you can rest assured that myself and also the entire senior management takes this very seriously. Unfortunately, we cannot answer your very specific questions because they were not provided beforehand.
This is... We don't want to create any precedences, so we answer what was not before. However, let me give you... Well, thank you again for the many good inputs and incentives that you gave us, you know, and which we are happy to discuss with you again. Please get in contact with our investor relations department, or write me an email directly to me, because I really find this thrilling.
DWS Group is advocating a diverse culture, which respects the diversity in its society, its clients. And because diversity is of central importance, we have a continuous focus on the following aspects: A, a buildup of talented and diverse teams in order to optimize performance and results. The creation of a respectful and inclusive environment where all people can live up to their decisions which are again a prerequisite for the success of the company.
We aspire to create an inclusive culture which respects the diversity of society and our customers, our stakeholders, and create an environment where every perspective counts and where every voice is heard. This gets us closer together, and it helps to create an inspiring work culture.
Now, when it comes to an inclusive environment, work environment, we were building our partnerships in all areas of the world. They do not only help us to promote our internal agenda, but they also help us to exchange tried and tested procedures and best practices, and to exert an influence in society. For example, the DWS and the Fondsfrauen, you know, create a talent program, for example, or an event in order to drive diversity in the company.
In 2023, in the investment division, so the division I'm responsible for, we established an initiative which concentrates on female talent. In London and New York is where we had these events. I mean, we can discuss how this can still be improved, but it was taken very seriously.
Studies on diversity are taken very seriously and also. And we do not question the importance of diversity on the performance. It's our target, you know? It's our aim to have the best teams from diverse cultures, backgrounds, sexual orientation, age groups, experience, et cetera, and to gain them and to hold them, you know, to maintain them.
And thank you very much for a very good question. Ladies and gentlemen, there is still some, quite some outstanding questions and answers. We are still working on them. So I would again suggest that we have a break of another approximately 30 minutes, 30 minutes. So between 2:40 P.M. and 2:45 P.M., we will back on air. And thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Right, ladies and gentlemen, we will continue the AGM with the answering of shareholders' questions. Currently, I have no further requests for the floor. I would thus close the list of speakers in 10 minutes. So if you still want to make a statement, please register now so that we can take this into consideration. Other than that, the list of speakers will close in 10 minutes.
[Foreign language]
We would continue now, and Dr. Hoops has additional answers to your questions.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, dear Karl. So we will start sovereign bonds of in general and of autocratic states. Just previously, before I answer officially. Now, as a shareholder-
[Foreign language]
Of a company, have various means of access. So if you are a bondholder, engagement is much more difficult than as a shareholder. And as a bondholder of an autocratic state, you can very well imagine that it's not that difficult to get to make a phone call with the Minister of Finance, for example, and this is why we hold hardly any positions of bonds.
Now, Mr. Massa, question: As we understand your question, you ask us as to whether the usual escalation steps are all bonds, as to sovereign bonds. Well, we usually have different engagement tools and measures. When it comes to engagement with state parties, we refer to the principles of responsible investments.
When it comes to interaction with state parties, engagement, ESG engagement with sovereign debt investors, is a document from 2022, which gives you additional details on this. Also, you asked us about our current assets. Our current assets in the states mentioned there as of the thirteenth of April 2024, is EUR in the two-digit millions. Now, and also, when it comes to ESG exclusion criteria, we would like to refer you to our answers 60 and 36 and-
[Foreign language]
47. We here described how states of non-state parties, Freedom House, are taken into consideration when it comes to exclusions, and these exclusion criteria are reviewed on a regular basis. Please bear with us that we cannot, will not give you any information on individual exclusion criteria of states. Now, engagement in general- Referring rather to companies. Ms. Dubslaff, you asked the following: How in the context of our engagement process, we deal with the six big oil and gas companies?
[Foreign language]
Now, in the context of our net-zero ambitions, we want to work towards a reduction of emissions in the real economy, and this is also what informs our engagement with the oil and gas companies. Among other things, we ask for investment and production plans that are geared towards the 1.5 degrees goal. We would also like to refer you to our answers to the pre-submitted questions.
[Foreign language]
This is 73, answer 73, which also informs you about our voting behavior. One measure would for, for example, be the reduction of methane emissions, because this is one of the most promising ways of reducing emissions. However, if you were to sell our shares, for example, we would not have any influence whatsoever. Mr. Massa, you asked about our escalation letters to 7 companies. These escalation letters were sent to mining companies, basic consumption goods industry, and manufacture materials. We cannot give this.
[Foreign language]
Ms. Dubslaff, you asked about-
[Foreign language]
Why the individual performance of management board members are taken into consideration in the context of proxy voting? As already mentioned by you, we basically exert our voting rights on the basis of the criteria-
Proxy voting policy-
That are explained in the corporate governance and proxy voting policy. When it comes to the responsibility of management board members with regard to climate change, the passage that you quoted is part of our policy, and this is why when it comes to Andrew Mackenzie, we-
[Foreign language]
Catherine Hughes, and also the CEO-
Of TotalEnergies
-of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné. I hope I pronounced these names correctly. So we voted against them in that context. Mr. Massa, you asked about additional details regarding to our escalation letters. As already mentioned, and I hope you bear with us, we are fairly, we are fundamentally reticent when it comes to information on individual engagement, so please bear with us. Wherever we can see no progress being made by our engagement, we try to use our proxy, our voting rights, and, and/or, make public statements in, during the AGM.
The last consequence can also be selling several shares of these companies from our portfolios. This would include the case of the Swiss mining company, for example. The overall number of companies excluded for different product groups results from various factors, such as, for example, changing representatives of potential investors.
DWS, during the course of the year, has more than 100 discussions with investors. The contents are provided on our investor relations website. For shareholders, shareholder representatives, and other investor parties, we cordially invite you to gain information from this website, and please get in contact if you have further questions.
Also, Mr. Giebel, you asked about the costs for food and drink of last year's AGM and of today's AGM, and the five biggest positions. You also asked about the costs of the last AGM that was held as an in-person meeting and today's virtual meeting. We can tell you that costs for food and drink last year were EUR 18 thousand, and this year were about EUR 27 thousand.
The increase in costs have to do with the inflation in costs, and also a higher number of employees and service providers on site. We are serving usual finger food and drinks. Please bear with us if we don't give you all the details. The overall costs for the in-person meeting in 2019 were about EUR 1.1 million.
The five biggest positions were technology, EUR 300 thousand, buildings, EUR 200 thousand, location, EUR 200 thousand, legal advice with about EUR 100 thousand, and then also catering, EUR 15 thousand for 2019. So the overall cost for the virtual AGM. So we had this for 2019, and now the virtual AGM in 2023 was about EUR 700 thousand.
The five biggest position were technology, about EUR 220,000, trade, building, EUR 200,000, location, about EUR 160,000, legal advice, about EUR 100,000, and catering, about EUR 18,000. For today's AGM, we reckon that the overall cost will be slightly above the cost of the last year. Also, Mr. Giebel, you asked about the number of participants in the last in-person meeting than last year's AGM and this year's AGM.
You also asked about the average cost per participants for these three meetings. These are our answers: The number of participants for today's AGM is at 439 participants. The resulting average cost per participant for 2024 cannot be established yet finally, but will approximately be close to 2023, so the cost per participant.
Mr. Bauer, you asked us about the actively managed funds that did not beat the benchmark. I mentioned that we hope that in the future, many of our funds, as many as possible, will beat the benchmark. You asked us about those that do not beat the benchmark. The number of actively managed fund that do not beat the benchmark is very broad. This would also, for example, include. As also the reasons and measures for performance improvement, we explained.
Yeah- During my speech. Thank you very much. There are two additional questions that I want to give you answers to. Dr. Vargas, you asked why the management board is allowed to wait when it comes to climate change, and how we can become more credible when it comes to climate protection. Let me make this very clear. DWS does have a sustainability strategy.
This also includes climate change, and also it's entirely up to the management. And of course, the supervisory board, on a regular basis and also on a continuous basis, is dealing with that matter. And we have a comprehensive dialogue on that, and we support the sustainability strategy of DWS explicitly so, and the supervisory board also believes that this sustainability strategy is credible.
Over and above this, I would also like to invite you to check the reports of the Supervisory Board when it comes to the development of the sustainability strategy. Mr. Giebel, your second question, Mr. Giebel, the second question was from you. You asked for our notary public, Mr. Habetha, who takes the minutes here. Mr. Habetha is an expert on AGMs and minutes of the AGMs. He does not work as a lawyer for DWS, but exclusively as a notary public for our AGMs. As a notary public, he has also taken the minutes of our AGMs of the previous years, which he has done very reliably and well. So we have...
So we do not have an invoice for him for this year, but do please assume that the cost will be somewhere between EUR 25,000 and EUR 30,000. And we also asked Dr. Habeta. He said this sum is not a major share, does not consist a major share of his income.
[Foreign language]
Okay, we have two additional requests for the floor. Mr. Massa, on the one hand. So Mr. Massa, you are already on, and the second request for the floor on the third round of questions comes from Mr. Giebel. Please brought into the waiting room. Mr. Massa, the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much. Questions when there are already answers, but the list of speakers is already closed, and this is why I had already registered for a further speaking slot.
Okay. Right. Well, you, I mean, you try to make really, really sure that you don't give answers to questions which had already been answered. Now, again, on your discussion on a potential oil and gas policy. Well, you know, this, I mean, discussions have been going back and forth.
When do you finally come up with this policy or think about coming up with a policy, you know? I mean, we go from AGM to AGM, and sooner or later, companies will come up with a policy for oil and gas. So when will we have your, your policy for oil and gas? Just, just give us an idea. I mean, if you have any plans, by when do you want to have this? And then also index funds.
[Foreign language]
And greenwashing. An additional concrete, additional question. Now, the new rules, the new ESMA rules, when it comes to ESG, the naming of ESG funds, how do you wanna implement this? How many of the ESG funds will be renamed, and in how many will the investment strategy really be adjustment?
What is your procedure when it comes to ESG, ETFs in particular, and do you believe that the indices will be adjusted by the index providers? You know, I, I mentioned this in my speech, you know, the, I mean, the ways and means you deal with ESG for ETFs is very important for us, you know. And from your explanations, I also believe that it's also in your interest to find solutions here. Thank you very much for answering this additional question, and thank you very much for your attention.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Mr. Massa, for this additional question. Now, as announced, I will now close the list of speakers. The second speaker in this third round is Mr. Giebel. And Mr. Giebel, the floor is all yours.
[Foreign language]
Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I have additional answers, questions on the answers. Now, when it comes to food and drinks, it's EUR 27 thousand. It's a virtual AGM. This seems to be quite a number. Now, you said that it's finger food you're spending all this money on. Now, EUR 27 thousand, finger food?
I mean, you can buy them oysters for EUR 27 thousand, plus champagne. So here comes an additional... additional food and drinks. Which food? And then you mentioned inflation. From EUR 18 thousand to 20... I really doubt your financial expertise. I think it is absolutely un, impossible for your answer, you know?
Also, give me the number of people you employ and days as a man day, and also the average, the average spend per person for food and drink. Now, location, 160 premises. Why did you have to rent a location for EUR 160,000 plus two hundred. So why do you need trade fair construction services? Why do you need a location? Premises not sufficient in order to send us virtual broadcast of your management board and your supervisory board?
Could be a bit more or less, about EUR 1,000 per participant for trade fair construction and means of, in the way of EUR 1,000. How are you using. On the one hand, how are you using what is being built, you know, by the trade fair construction companies? Do you use them again? Do you, do you warehouse them?
And you say with average cost, you know, please give me the costs of the AGM per participant. So it's funny, you know, I reckon that you record the questions, so it's funny that you give me such answers. I have the impression that you don't want to give me an answer at all, but you can counteract this impression by just finally giving me an answer.
Public taking the minutes. You say Dr. Bitter is an explicit expert, also having proven his value at AGM. If he were an expert, he would know that there are court rulings on these matters. So if he does not answer this question, although he knows he has the information to do so, this is then his character is questionable.
If he cannot answer because he is not aware of the judgments, this shows that he's actually anything but an expert. Not an essential or material part of his income is not an answer. Please tell us what is an essential or material part of your income and what isn't?
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Mr. Giebel. This brings us to the end of today's list of speakers. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it has been proven that also virtual formats allow for meaningful exchange on matters of the agenda. We still now have some answers that are still outstanding, and we will take a bit of time, which means that we again take a short break, 15 minutes, so we will be back at around 3:40 P.M. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, the AGM is continued. We're getting closer to the last answers to the questions, and therefore, also the voting process. So let me point out here that you have another 10 minutes until 3:50 P.M. to place your instructions and voting proxies to the company proxies and representatives. And by then, we will also close the possibility of submitting absentee ballot votes, and we will then capture the results of the voting process. We've got a few more answers for you, so back to Dr. Hoops.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. First of all, I have to slightly correct an answer I gave earlier. Mr. Massa, you asked me about the government bonds, and one of the questions or the partial questions related to our inventory in terms of, bonds in autocratic states. I was saying it's in the double-digit million range, but I have to correct this: it's in the triple-digit million range, our portfolio.
Nevertheless, the portfolio accounts for less than 0.01% of our assets under management. Next, I would like to answer your questions, Mr. Giebel. Just as we did last year, where in the end, we had a bilateral meeting, from person to person to answer a few open questions.
Of course, we ask a lot of critical questions at AGMs ourselves, and of course, this right is a right that you, our shareholders, have as well. That's why we'd like to answer your questions. You first of all asked about why the price for catering, for food and beverages had increased by 50% year-on-year. I gave you a few factors: inflation, employees, et cetera.
But to specify this, we had an additional day for the rehearsal, so an extra day. We had a few more people. So last year, about 100 DWS employees were involved, but of course, we've also got technicians, engineers, security staff. What we have here, what we're offering is healthy food, sandwiches, beer, muesli, fruit, salad. Nothing spectacular, relatively normal meals.
Water, as you may have noticed, and a few other non-alcoholic beverages. Nothing out of the ordinary. So overall, this is the reason why there's been a slight cost increase, a few extra people, an extra day, et cetera. So this has led to the increase to EUR 27,000. The second complex of questions related to the location.
So anything to do with this location, why we can't hold the AGM at our own premises? Well, of course, there may well be a controversy about virtual versus in-person AGM, but if you decide to do a virtual AGM, it's got to be done properly. So even, for example, if we were to contact our main investor, we wouldn't have a corresponding hall available.
So we need a big hall in Frankfurt with all the technical equipment that we simply don't have in our own premises. Next, you asked about ESG, whether we comply with all the ESG requirements, and I can say yes, clearly so. In selecting our service providers, we follow very clear ESG requirements that we have specified ourselves. And you were also asking about whether we store any equipment and reuse it? Yes. So, for example, the rostrum that we're using here is the same one as the one we last used last year. Because I have a special arrangement there where I can put different glasses of water.
You also asked about the cost per participant. Well, it can't be that difficult if we know the number of participants, and then you can divide the cost for the food and beverages by the number of participants. It's EUR 1,650-EUR 1,750 per shareholder that is logged into today's AGM. So that's the cost per person. Thank you very much for your active participant, participation.
This has been very useful. Next, Mr. Dubslaff, you asked about the assets applied for the filter DWS ESG, DSW ESG portfolio, where we reported broken down by active, passive, including Xtrackers and alternatives. For 2023, we show the ESG assets per asset class. In total, these were EUR 133.5 billion.
This includes actively managed mutual funds domiciled in the EU, where the ESG investment standard applies. The remaining assets, business plus alternatives, and passive are based on ESG standards in line with the relevant properties.
Next, Mr. Massa, you had pointed out in your contribution that when you register, sometimes you don't know where the question may have asked and responded to in the meantime, and you were saying, "Well, what about the coal and gas, oil and gas policy? And has this been completed in the meantime?" Yes, in the meantime, we had answered that question, but regarding the oil and gas policy, we can therefore refer you to the answers we'd already given. So we don't have anything to add at this point in time. And then, Mr.
Massa, you also asked about the new ESMA guidelines on the designation of ESG funds, and whether we are planning to implement them and to use them, and how many would be affected, and how our strategy would be affected. You also asked about ESG, ETFs, and index providers. In general, we welcome the further development of the ESG environment, which enhances the transparency and comparability of sustainability-related financial products.
On the basis of the final ESMA report, we have already started analyzing our own products on that basis. The final ESMA guidelines will be translated into the respective EU languages on the ESMA website. The final impact assessment will be carried out once a detailed analysis has taken place.
Yeah, thank you. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Dubslaff, and thank you to the other speakers for your questions and contributions. Thank you to Stefan Hoops for the comprehensive answers to these questions. I hope we've been able to give you all the information you had asked for. This takes us to the vote, the voting process.
As I already mentioned, we will close the portal at 4:50 P.M. Let me first of all explain to you the voting process. At today's AGM, the company's proxy, on the basis of the instructions he has received, will cast the votes. In the framework of the vote, these votes will then be cast. The changes in the instructions and proxy votes that have been submitted before the portal is closed, will of course, be taken into account and will be included in the electronic system.
Of course, the absentee ballot votes will also be included and fed into the electronic counting system, and will also be included in the result of the votes that together with the votes cast here today. We will use the addition process. This means that the yes votes and the no votes will be counted. In the light of the voting process determined for today, we will have the following process:
for agenda items 1 to 11, the draft resolutions as published in the Federal Gazette on 25th of April, 2024, in the framework of the convocation of today's AGM, will be relevant. The resolution adopted regarding agenda item 1 includes the establishment of the annual financial statements. So we propose to you that the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for financial year 2023 be approved.
Regarding agenda item two, we propose to appropriate the amount of EUR 1,563,606,148.86, and use this amount to distribute this for the payment of a dividend, and to carry forward the remaining amount of EUR 343,606,148.6 to new account. Under Tagesordnungspunkt, under agenda item three, we are asking you for your support for ratification of the acts of management of the General Partner for financial year 2023. So the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the acts of management of the General Partner be ratified.
Here, the persons affected, that is the General Partner itself, the managing directors, and the shareholders of the General Partner, must not exercise their voting right from their own shares, nor from third-party shares. Third parties must not exercise the voting right from shares either, which are owned by the General Partner, the managing directors, or shareholders of the General Partner.
The persons affected have made sure in the run-up to the AGM, that these prohibitions are complied with. Regarding the proposal by management, we have a counterproposal from the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, under which it is moved that the General Partner not be ratified in terms of the acts of management for financial year 2023. If you want to follow the counterproposal, you have to vote no.
Under agenda item four, there will be a resolution regarding the ratification of the acts of management of the members of the Supervisory Board for 2023. Here, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board suggest that you should ratify the acts. The members of the Supervisory Board must not exercise their own voting rights from their own shares or third-party shares in this respect, and third parties must not exercise the right from shares either, which are owned by Supervisory Board members.
The General Partner, managing directors, and shareholders of the General Partner must not exercise their voting rights from their own or from third-party shares either. Third parties must not exercise the voting right from shares which are owned by the General Partner, the managing directors, or the shareholder of the General Partner.
The persons affected have made sure in the run-up to the AGM that these prohibitions are all fully complied with. In the framework of agenda item 5, the Supervisory Board, supported by the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee, proposes that under 5.1, KPMG Aktiengesellschaft
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Berlin, be appointed as the auditor of the annual financial statements and as the auditor of the consolidated financial statements for financial year 2024, and also be appointed to perform the limited review of the condensed financial statements and the interim management report as of June 30, 2024. So that is the proposal that KPMG be elected.
Under 5.2, it is proposed that KPMG Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Berlin be appointed as auditor for the purpose of confirming the sustainability reporting for financial year 2024, with effect from the entry into force of the law implementing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive into German law for 2024.
... The Supervisory Board will only carry out this resolution if, under the CSRD Implementation Act, it is required that the sustainability reporting to be produced for financial year 2024 be confirmed externally by an auditor to be appointed by the AGM. If the CSRD Implementation Act does not provide for any regulation for financial year 2024, that the appointment of the auditor of the sustainability reporting by the AGM without any judicial procedure, which would be dispensable.
Under agenda for the votes on 5.1 and 5.2, the General Partner Managing Directors and shareholders of the General Partner must not exercise their voting rights from their own shares, nor from third-party shares. Third parties must not exercise voting rights from shares that are owned by the General Partner, Managing Directors, or the shareholder of the General Partner.
The persons affected had all made sure that these bans are complied with. Under agenda item six, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the Compensation Act and audited accordingly be approved. Under agenda item seven, ratification of the acts for financial year 2026 as shareholder representative.
In this vote, the General Partner, the Managing Directors, and the shareholders of the General Partner must not exercise the voting rights from their own shares, nor from third-party shares. Third parties must not exercise the voting rights from shares that are owned by the General Partner, the Managing Directors, or the shareholders of the General Partner. And here, too, the persons affected have made sure that all of these bans are complied with.
Under agenda item eight, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the authorized capital, pursuant to Section four, four of the Articles of Association, be canceled, and that new authorized capital be created for capital increases in cash and/or contributions in kind, in accordance with Section one hundred eighty-six three, sentence four of the German Stock Corporation Act, and that corresponding amendments to the Articles of Association be made.
Under agenda item nine, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the authorized capital, pursuant to Section four, four, five of the Articles of Association, be canceled, and that new authorized capital be created for capital increases in cash-
and corresponding amendments to the Articles of Association be made. Under agenda item ten, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the existing authorization be canceled and a new authorization be created to issue participatory notes and other hybrid debt securities that fulfill the regulatory requirements to qualify as AT1 capital. Under agenda item eleven, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose a number of amendments to sections in the Articles of Association.
On the one hand, they propose that two members be delegated by the shareholders' meeting of the General Partner and three members be delegated by the shareholder representatives be increased to three. The other amendment proposed relates to the German Acts on the Finance. Section four of the German Stock Corporation Act, the German legislator has aligned German legislation with European.
Second day, instead of beginning of the 21st day before the AGM, and this requires an amendment to Section 22.2 of our Articles of Association. So much for the agenda. I'd now like to ask the company's proxy to carry out the voting process.
[Foreign language]
For the sake of good order, let me once again announce the current attendance. The share capital of the company amounting to EUR 200 million is the five non-par value shares representing. Are present at today's. 442 non-par value shares were received. All in all, this results in 178,830,097 non-par value shares, which is equivalent to 89.42% of the share capital.
The updated attendance register will shortly also be available. Absentee votes ends with me closing the voting process. Now, I'm now waiting for the signal from the voting proxy. I just got it, in order to continue. So the voting proxy of the company has now process.
At this point, let me also once again point out that the shareholders who have joined us electronically and, or their proxies, have the possibility to file objections against resolutions taken by the AGM by way of electronic communication. Respective statements can be transferred via the shareholder portal using the Objection button.
The notary public, taking the minutes, will immediately receive that objection via the shareholder portal. Objections can only be filed until I have closed, until I'm closing the AGM. Imminent closing of the AGM as soon as I have read out the voting results. Any objections that we have received after the AGM has been closed cannot be considered. Now, it's gonna take a couple of minutes until we have counted all of the votes.
[Foreign language]
Ladies and gentlemen, let me now once again announce the attendance at the point of the voting. The share capital of the company, amounting to EUR 200 million, is divided into 200 million no-par value shares. Of these, 178,648,870 no-par value shares, representing the same number of votes, are present at today's AGM, and this corresponds to 89.33% of the share capital. In addition, absentee votes: 130,411 no-par value shares, which is equivalent to 89.42% of the share capital.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have now also received the results of the votes, and let me therefore now announce these results. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Giebel has demanded that the full details of the results are read out. This is a legal right which we can demand. Therefore, I would like to ask you for some patience until I have read out all of the entire list of long numbers.
And for better readability, the results will also be shown on the screen, and in that time, you can only hear me but not see me. So I turn to the announcement of the voting result on item number one. I hereby declare 40.40% of the share capital. Yes, votes cast, 178,795,376, which is equivalent to 99.99%.
No votes cast, 3,334, which is 0.101%. On item number one of the agenda, approval of the annual DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA for fiscal year. The general partner and the supervisory board as published in the Federal Gazette on the twenty-fifth of April 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. Looking to my left and to my right, I can see that the representative of the general- Total valid votes cast were 178,388,244. 25,777, which is 99.85%. No votes cast were 262,474, which is 0.15%.
On item one, profit for 2023, the AGM has passed on the 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. Votes cast was 19,112,579. 18,363,204, which is equivalent to 96.08%. No votes, 749,375, which is 3.92%. On item number 2, ratification of the acts of management of the general partner for fiscal year 2023, the AGM on the 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. And this also means... I declare total valid votes were cast for 19,112,083 shares, which corresponds to 9.56% of the share capital.
Yes, votes 18,295,873, which is equivalent to 95.73%, and 816,210 no votes, which is 4.27%. On item number two, that is ratification of the acts of management of the supervisory board for fiscal year 2023, the AGM has adopted the proposed resolution of the general partner and the supervisory board, as published in the Federal Gazette on 25th of April 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. This brings me to the results of the vote on item number 5.1 of the agenda. I hereby declare, valid votes were cast for 19,148,803 shares, which corresponds to 9.57% of the share capital.
Yes, 19,121,454 yes votes, which is equivalent to 99.86%, and 27,349 no votes, which is equivalent to 0.14%. On item number 5.1, election of the auditor for the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements and any interim financial statements, the AGM has adopted the proposed resolution of the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on the 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. On the vote on item number 5, votes were cast for 19,143,865 shares, which corresponds to 9.57% of the share capital. Yes, votes cast, 19,000,000, 103-...
The AGM has adopted the proposed resolution as the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on twenty-fifth of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes. Let me turn to the results of the vote on item number six. I declare valid votes were cast for 178,015,861 shares, which is equivalent to 89.01% of the share capital. Yes votes, 175,353,228, which is equivalent to 98.50%. And no votes, 2,662,633, which is 1.50%. On item number six, approval of the compensation report, the of the General Partner and Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gaz- .
The vote on item number seven of the agenda, I hereby declare valid votes were cast for 19,840,048 shares, which is equivalent to 9.92% of the share capital. Yes votes, 19,779,103, which is equivalent to 99.69%. And no votes, 60,945, which is 0.31%. On item number seven of the agenda, election of Oliver Behrens to the Supervisory Board, the AGM has adopted a proposed resolution of the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on twenty-fifth—Ladies and gentlemen, after I have completed reading out the results, which means in about two minutes, I will immediately close the AGM.
Reading out the results, which means in about 2 minutes, I will immediately close the AGM. The result of the vote on item number 8 of the agenda, I hereby declare valid votes were cast for 178,803,985 shares, which is equivalent to 89.40% of the share capital. Yes votes, 178,610,328, which is 99.89%, and 193,657 no votes, which is 0.11%.
On item number 8 of the agenda, cancellation of the existing authorized capital 2021 I, and creation of a new Authorized Capital 2024/I , the AGM has adopted a proposed resolution as published in the Federal Gazette on 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes and capital. Now, this resolution requires the approval of the General Partner, which, according to Section 284, 2 and 3 of the Stock Corporation Act, has already been recorded by the notary public prior to the AGM, and which was handed over to me just a second ago, and which the notary public just did again. The result of the vote on item number nine of the agenda, I hereby declare valid votes were cast for 178,805,784 shares, which is equivalent to 89.40% of the share capital. The yes vote is 177,500,502, which is 99.31%, and 1,228,332 no votes, which is 0.69%. On item number nine of the agenda, cancellation of the existing Authorized Capital 2022/II
This resolution also requires the approval of the General Partner, which, according to Section 285, 2 and 3 of the Stock Corporation Act, has already been recorded by the notary public prior to the AGM, and which is also part of the notarial deed, which was just handed over to me. The result of the vote on item number 10 of the agenda, I hereby declare valid votes were cast for 178,118,391 shares, which is equivalent to 89.06% of the share capital. Yes, votes cast 177,406,318, which is 99.60%, and no votes cast 712,073, which is 0.40%.
On item ten of the agenda, cancellation of the existing and creation of a new authorization to issue AT1 equity instruments , the AGM has adopted a proposed resolution, as published in the Federal Gazette on 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes and capital. Here, once again, this resolution requires the approval of the General Partner, which, according to Section 285, 2 and 3 of the Stock Corporation Act, has already been recorded by the notary public prior to the AGM, and which is also part of the notarial deed, which just has been handed over to me....
The result of the vote on item 11 of the agenda, I hereby declare: valid votes were cast for 178,818,421 shares, which is equivalent to 89.41% of the share capital. Yes votes cast, 178,811,145, which is equivalent to 99.99%, and no votes cast, 76, which is equivalent to 0.01%. On item 11 of the agenda, amendment of sections 15(1), that is composition of the joint committee, and 22(2) of the articles of association record date, the AGM has adopted a proposed resolution as published in the Federal Gazette on 25th of April, 2024, with the necessary majority of votes and capital.
This resolution also requires the approval of the general partner, which according to Section 285, 2 and 3 of the Stock Corporation Act, has already been recorded by the notary public prior to the AGM, and which is also part of the notarial deed, which has just been handed over to me.
Ladies and gentlemen, so much for the voting results. I thank you very much for the interest that you have shown in DWS and our virtual AGM of today. I also, once again, would like to thank Stefan Hoops for answering the questions. And of course, I also would like to thank all of the employees who were involved in preparing and running thi AGM. I hereby close the meeting. We're looking forward to the DWS AGM of the year 2025, which will again take place in the month of June. Until then, I wish you all the best. Thank you very much and bye-bye. Auf Wiedersehen!