German ex-Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel tapped for Deutsche Bank job

Sigmar Gabriel, former chief of Germany's left-leaning Social Democrats, is to join Deutsche Bank's supervisory board. The lender, one of Europe's leading financial institutions, has had its share of scandals.

Seasoned German Social Democrat politician Sigmar Gabriel, 60, is to be appointed to the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank, the lender announced on Friday.

Gabriel, with his experience as a former environment, economics and foreign minister, would "make a special contribution and round out our expertise on the supervisory board," said Paul Achleitner, the head of the board.

"We are experiencing challenging times geopolitically, economically and socially in which a global bank has to confront very new expectations and demands," he added.

Gabriel called his nomination a "great honor," saying the bank had "the chance and the responsibility to help shape the German and the European economy."

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Often under fire

The former Social Democrat (SPD) leader, who was also vice chancellor of Germany under conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel from December 2013 to March 2018, already has several other corporate positions, including at Volkswagen and Deloitte Germany.

Deutsche Bank has often been at the focus of controversy over its financial activities, including investments in environmentally damaging sectors. In 2017, the bank was fined a total of $630 million (€553.5 million) by US and UK financial authorities over accusations of having laundered money out of Russia. It was also fined a record sum over its role in the Libor interest rate scam between 2003 and 2007.

Currently, the lender is involved in the biggest restructuring it has ever undertaken, which involves, among other things, cutting 18,000 jobs worldwide.

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Deutsche Bank is Germany's largest lender in terms of total assets and number of employees