Sideways: Deutsche Bank's Garth Ritchie – the Brexit thinker
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Opinion

Sideways: Deutsche Bank's Garth Ritchie – the Brexit thinker

The news that Garth Ritchie, head of investment banking at Deutsche Bank, is being paid €250,000 a month for extra responsibility 'in connection with the implications of Brexit' has been condemned in Germany, where politicians and union leaders are preparing to oppose a potential merger with Commerzbank and associated job cuts.

There has been less outrage in the UK, where disclosures of excessive pay for bankers and the contortions involved to justify payouts have become familiar.

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Garth Ritchie

But Ritchie runs Deutsche’s dealing operations from London, so surely the people of Britain deserve to share the great man’s conclusions on the implications of Brexit

If Ritchie is being paid €250,000 a month for the work, he must have valuable insight into how Brexit will play out and he clearly knows much more than the locals, who are showing distinct signs of confusion at the moment.

Ritchie is originally from South Africa but has spent many years in London, so perhaps it is his perspective as an outsider who knows his adopted country well that helps him to see further than others.

He already knows how long the effects of the Brexit crisis will reverberate, for example. Deutsche’s annual report, which was released in late March, noted that Ritchie has been awarded his monthly functional allowance for matters relating to Brexit for the period between December 2017 and November 2020.

By November 2020, Ritchie will have been paid €9 million for shouldering this burden.

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