The drift from Frankfurt to London gets ever stronger at Deutsche Bank. The January issue of staff magazine International Forum chalked up one further milestone in the exodus when it announced it too has moved from the Finanzplatz.
Why? Because research uncovered that 50% of the magazine's readership was now on the Deutsche Morgan Grenfell payroll. And logically it should be close to its audience.
In the same issue, Deutsche Bank board member and personnel chief Ulrich Weiss appropriately published a fascinating article on group corporate culture. "Corporate cultures confront us wherever we go," writes Weiss. "Whether we visit McDonald's and see a picture of the employee of the month; or go to England and the USA and see with astonishment that we are served in all shops in a friendly and accommodating manner."
Weiss discusses the different world views of philosophers David Hume and Immanuel Kant, who are respectively British and German. He explains: "The 'Anglo-Saxon' accepts that the world is and its rules are ultimately not transparent. Consequently, he seeks less guidance in principles, but tries to make the best of a given situation. The 'German' seeks laws and principles and wants to regulate problems once and for all. In business this is reflected in conservative accounting principles and in corporate structures which prefer an orderly course of events as opposed to quick and individual decisions."
Religion is to blame. "The Anglican churches are influenced by Calvinism, which sees individual achievement and wealth as a symptom of grace. On the Continent, Lutheran Protestantism unites with Catholicism in the view that existing classes are there to stay and should not be challenged by man."
The point of this article, unfortunately too long to print here in full, is that "tensions should not be swept under the carpet but rather exploited for the bank's benefit." He sums up: "According to F Scott Fitzgerald, a test of excellence is the ability to pursue two contradictory thoughts at the same time and still function. As a bank we must have this strength."
Deutsche employees who feel aggrieved by the encroaching influence of the investment bank may be glad to hear that it's all Kant's fault. Steven Irvine