Wolfgang Kirsch

Wolfgang Kirsch, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of DZ BANK AGwill give a presentation on "Reducing complexity, strengthening core competencies: The role of DZ BANK in the cooperative financial services network".

Wolfgang Kirsch (born 1955) has been a member of the Board of Managing Directors since 2002 and Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of DZ BANK in Frankfurt am Main since 2006.

Within the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken cooperative financial services network, DZ BANK AG acts as the central institution for more than 1,000 local cooperative banks and their 12,000 branches. As Germany's sixth-largest bank, DZ BANK is also a commercial bank with an international focus, concentrating on serving the German SME sector and multinational companies.

The companies of the DZ BANK Group are among the cornerstones of the bancassurance offering of the cooperative financial services network, which comprises around 1,250 local cooperative banks and is one of the largest private financial services organizations in Germany with consolidated total assets of around € 909 billion and around 30 million customers. This means that DZ BANK, with its significant holdings in specialized institutions - including Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, DG HYP (Deutsche Genossenschafts-Hypothekenbank), DZ BANK International, DZ PRIVAT-BANK Schweiz, R + V Versicherung, TeamBank and Union Asset Management Holding - has a Group platform that enables intensive and efficient cooperation between the cooperative service providers in the bancassurance business, particularly in asset management and private banking.

DZ BANK also offers cross-sector transaction processing functions in securities services via dwpbank Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG. In payment transactions in Germany, DZ BANK co-founded Equens Deutschland AG as the central bank and clearing house for the payment transactions of the cooperative banks, thus creating the first pan-European full-service payment transaction provider.

In its international business, DZ BANK AG is the international hub for the local cooperative banks. The network of branches in all time zones is primarily operated on a cooperative and capital market-oriented basis. DZ BANK's presence in the world's most important financial centers is complemented by numerous cooperation agreements, primarily with cooperative partner banks in other European and non-European countries.

Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch was born in 1955, completed a banking apprenticeship and then studied business administration at the University of Cologne, where he graduated with a degree in business administration.

Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch began his career at Deutsche Bank in Düsseldorf. After working at several locations as a director and abroad for a longer period of time, Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch to the Board of Managing Directors of DZ BANK in Frankfurt am Main. He has been Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors since 2006 and is responsible for the Association, Staff, Communications & Marketing and Auditing, Group Coordination, as well as for the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken in the North Rhine-Westphalia business region. In addition, Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch the mandate of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board in 4 Supervisory Boards.

In his contribution to the 15th Munich Management Colloquium, Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch discuss the potential of the cooperative financial services network and the prerequisites for success in market development in the private and corporate customer business. He will also go into detail about the DZ BANK Group's core competencies in the bancassurance business, the capital market and lending business and the settlement business. In order to reduce the resulting complexities and costs, he will highlight opportunities to reduce complexity and costs through specialization and cross-institutional cooperation.

Status: Beginning of 2008