English | Financial news with a German perspective

Munich-based Allianz has been performing exceptionally well for over a decade. Going forward it will be difficult to sustain such rapid growth.

Bill Anderson was brought in as CEO to get Bayer back on track. But another challenging year lies ahead, and discontent is growing among shareholders.

The Commission's softened emissions targets for the EU car industry are guided by common sense in difficult times. A pragmatic approach is the right one.

After five consecutive rate cuts by the ECB, a pause is needed. Inflation risks are increasing – partly due to the massive spending plans announced in Berlin.

Many industries would struggle without employees with an immigration background. In sectors including gastronomy, driving trucks and buses, and metalworking, they make up a disproportionately high share of the workforce.

The demands made of supervisory boards have broadened in recent years. Daniela Mattheus, President of the Financial Experts Association, discusses whether changes to the regulatory framework are needed.

Logistics company DHL exceeded analysts' expectations with its 2024 results. The profitability outlook for 2025 is even higher – and costs are being reduced with sizeable job cuts.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Tim Höttges signalled that he is far from running out of energy as Telekom CEO. As always, he is fighting for the interests of the industry, and has some strong opinions on EU competition policy.

Taking the approach of voluntary redundancies with payoffs at Audi means that the potential impact on the bottom line at the Volkswagen Group will initially be quite limited.

For 2024, Allianz delivered a record set of results. CEO Oliver Bäte and CFO Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre still see further upside potential, but are sticking to their policy of being conservative with forecasts.

ESMA boss Verena Ross has called for more powers to regulate cross border financial services. Consistent supervision, and less market fragmentation, remain urgent challenges for the EU capital markets.

In the midst of deteriorating relations between Europe and the United States, the topic of defence dominated the opening of the Börsen-Zeitung Finanzplatztag. Federal Finance Minister Jörg Kukies called for a reassessment by the banks of lending to the defence sector.

The approaches to reducing bureaucracy between DOGE in the United States and the Omnibus package in the European Union could hardly be more different. This is partly due to cultural factors.

Participants at a Finanzplatztag panel discussion agreed that Germans need to invest more in equities – including via their pension plans.

European fintechs are capturing market share in SME banking through digital strategies and aggressive pricing. Companies like Revolut and Fyrst focus on fast onboarding.

Lars Stoy is adapting to the less hierarchical and more casually dressed environment of Dutch banks. The new CEO of ING Germany has his work cut out to match the performance of his predecessor Nick Jue.

At Austrian construction company Strabag, having a CEO from outside the controlling family has already been successful once, but such transitions do not always go smoothly. Following the sudden death of the founder’s son, Stefan Kratochwill is now taking over the leadership as an outsider.

The new EU regulation on ESG rating activities promotes transparency and comparability in the market. At present there is a wide variety of scores and opinions, with different methodologies.

Despite the deglobalisation trend, the winners of the 15th edition of the Börsen-Zeitung Corporate Finance Awards are deals that look beyond national borders.

Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp and Sabadell CEO César González Bueno are countering takeover threats with high dividend payouts. This may please shareholders, but it is not sustainable in the long run.

Sascha Uebel, the new head of the Commerzbank works council, has arrived ready for a fight in the takeover battle. Agreements on job cuts are now in place, presenting an obstacle to the plans of Unicredit boss Andrea Orcel.

US financial investor PSG Equity is rapidly expanding its portfolio of German software companies. The latest deal involves Munich-based IT monitoring firm Checkmk.