At today's Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of DWS will vote on the following main agenda items: The appropriation of retained earnings including the distribution of a dividend of EUR 2.05 per share and the regular election of shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board. In addition, the election of the statutory auditor and group auditor as well as an amendment of the Articles of Association to allow for virtual General Meetings in the next two years are on the agenda. The shareholders' meeting takes place virtually.
In their speeches to DWS shareholders, Karl von Rohr and Stefan Hoops emphasize the following strategic aspects:
Karl von Rohr, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DWS: “The return to net inflows in the first quarter of 2023 shows that DWS is back on track in terms of growth. With its further refined strategy, its highly motivated employees and its broad range of products and services, DWS is well positioned to seize market opportunities and to continue successfully tackling the challenges of the asset management industry.”
Stefan Hoops, CEO of DWS, emphasises regarding DWS’ refined strategy: “In mature markets, we are focused on maintaining our leadership position. To do this, for example, we want to expand thematic equity offerings and ESG products within our Equities business. Equities is hugely important to our business model, especially our retail business. This will always remain one of our focal points.
We will anchor a positive performance culture even more strongly at DWS. It is important to achieve a good risk-adjusted return for our clients through diversified investments. However, it is not enough for us to simply outperform the respective benchmark index. It must be our aim to manage our clients' money better than our competitors. That is why we are working on linking the evaluation and remuneration of our portfolio managers more closely to the excess returns they generate for our clients.”
Hoops adds: “We want to grow in business areas where we already have strong capabilities and can build on attractive growth rates in the respective market segment. At the same time, it reflects our unwavering global ambitions. For example, we want to continue expanding our Xtrackers and Passive business worldwide. We also want to expand our Alternatives investments business.
And we want to develop business areas with high potential. On the one hand, we are interested in building so-called API capabilities in order to be able to offer products and services via digital platforms. On the other hand, we want to bring products onto the blockchain.”
In addition, Stefan Hoops explained the updated sustainability strategy of DWS: “For DWS, the following applies: We are first and foremost trustees of our clients' assets. We invest the money entrusted to us in line with the goals and interests of our clients. In doing so, we aim to create long-term assets – taking account of investment risks and opportunities appropriately. This also includes taking into consideration risks from climate change and opportunities from climate protection.
At the same time, as one of the largest asset managers in Europe, we have a duty to make our own positive contribution to the transformation towards a more sustainable future. This means that we want to use our market position and influence to drive the necessary transformation process together with our clients and the companies in which we invest.
Along the way, there will be situations where the interests of our stakeholders will conflict. For example, when it comes to the conflict between short-term energy supply security for industry and households versus the necessary decarbonization of our society, as was the case last year. Or when the demand to exclude so-called “brown” companies from the investment universe collides with the approach as active shareholders to move these companies towards a sustainable transformation.
We see it as part of our responsibility to enter into dialogue with our clients and the public to address such conflicts with our stakeholders and to find compromises. In the long-term, we want to contribute to a harmonization of perspectives. Our overarching goal is to support our clients in managing sustainable change in the real economy. To this end, we stand by them with our investment expertise and appropriate solutions.
To underpin this goal, we have built our sustainability strategy around three priorities: 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. And third, we want to continue to drive our own business transformation towards a more sustainable future. This is in line with our philosophy as a responsible trustee of our clients' assets.”
At https://group.dws.com/ir/annual-general-meeting/ you can find the agenda and other documents on the Annual General Meeting, as well as a link for the live broadcast including the speeches by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the CEO.
About DWS Group
DWS Group (DWS) with EUR 841bn of assets under management (as of 31 March 2023) aspires to be one of the world's leading asset managers. Building on more than 60 years of experience, it has a reputation for excellence in Germany, Europe, the Americas and Asia. DWS is recognized by clients globally as a trusted source for integrated investment solutions, stability and innovation across a full spectrum of investment disciplines.
We offer individuals and institutions access to our strong investment capabilities across all major liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as solutions aligned to growth trends. Our diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management – as well as our deep environmental, social and governance focus – complement each other when creating targeted solutions for our clients. Our expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of our economists, research analysts and investment professionals are brought together in one consistent global CIO View, giving strategic guidance to our investment approach.
DWS wants to innovate and shape the future of investing. We understand that, both as a corporate as well as a trusted advisor to our clients, we have a crucial role in helping navigate the transition to a more sustainable future. With approximately 4,400 employees in offices all over the world, we are local while being one global team. We are committed to acting on behalf of our clients and investing with their best interests at heart so that they can reach their financial goals, no matter what the future holds. With our entrepreneurial, collaborative spirit, we work every day to deliver outstanding investment results, in both good and challenging times to build the best foundation for our clients’ financial future.