Deutsche Bank legal officer joins ThyssenKrupp to kickstart department restructure

The move comes as ThyssenKrupp restructures its legal department into one division dedicated to legal matters and a separate division dedicated to compliance matters. This change follows the company’s increasing focus on compliance issues and the appointment of the company’s former general counsel and chief compliance officer Thomas Kremer to the supervisory board of German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom last month.

Wittig, who has been Deutsche Bank’s general counsel with responsibility for Germany and Central and Eastern Europe since 2004, will oversee the new legal division and will join the company on 1 October. In the meantime, existing members of the legal team will continue to oversee the division prior to Wittig being officially instated in October.

“In Arne Wittig we’ve recruited a high calibre new general counsel who through his many years of work at Deutsche Bank brings wide-ranging experience in providing legal counsel to a leading DAX company,” commented Jürgen Claassen, a member of ThyssenKrupp’s executive board who is in charge of the company’s legal and compliance functions.

The new compliance function will be led by newly appointed compliance officer Cristoph Klahold, who has been with the company since 2000 and has played a key role in developing its compliance programme.

“We’re pleased that in Christoph Klahold we are able to appoint an outstanding internal candidate as the group’s new chief compliance officer,” added Claassen. “This is in line with our aim to maintain the leading position of the ThyssenKrupp compliance programme among the DAX 30 companies.”

Wittig’s appointment comes just months after Deutsche Bank reshuffled its managerial board (12 March 2012).

Mathias Otto, Deutsche Bank’s deputy general counsel for Germany and Central & Eastern Europe, will serve as acting general counsel for the region, a Deutsche Bank spokesperson told The Lawyer.