Darden Business Publishing is very pleased to announce that “Deutsche Bank and the Road to Basel III,” by George (Yiorgos) Allayannis, Gerry Yemen, Andrew C. Wicks, and Matthew Dougherty, was named the best finance case of 2013 in the 24th annual awards and competition sponsored by The Case Centre.
In “Deutsche Bank and the Road to Basel III,” students discuss the role of the acquisition of Postbank, and the potential impact of Basel III on Deutsche Bank. The case is set in 2012, just after Joseph Ackermann stepped down and co-CEOs Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain assumed leadership. After two months in their new role, they are about to have their first quarterly conference call with the analysts. The analysts were anxious to learn if Deutsche Bank was in a position to meet the new capital requirements imposed by Basel III that was due to take effect in 2013. How would the market value Deutsche Bank in this new environment?
“This case talks about big issues,” Allayannis said. “We have figured out how important banks are in the economy and their impact on growth or decline.” At the core of the case is Deutsche Bank’s plan to reposition itself in the market and to meet the capital requirements imposed by Basel III. “It is clear that banks cannot assume excessive risks, they must be responsible.”
The big issues Allayannis mentioned allow for several ethical themes to emerge. Wicks coteaches this case as part of the European Residency (Berlin) of the Global MBA for Executives (GEMBA) program. “The ethical issues presented in this case force students to go outside of their comfort zone.” The decision to balance Deutsche Bank’s global strategy with a local one pushes students beyond the numbers. One possible result is a debate about the implications of “Too big to fail.”
Yemen said the most surprising thing she noticed as she wrote the case was the openness and transparency of the Deutsche Bank website. Even some of the dark events of Deutsche Bank’s past were listed for all to see.
Allayannis teaches “Deutsche Bank and the Road to Basel III” and several of his other cases in his “Financial Institutions and Capital Markets” class in the residency program as well as in the GEMBA program. If students have sufficient background in finance, it may be suitable for the strategy course as well. When Wicks is not teaching in the combined finance-ethics course for GEMBA, he teaches ethics and leadership at the Darden School of Business. Yemen is a senior researcher at Darden, and has written several bestselling cases. Dougherty is a 2012 Darden graduate.