DKIB: Another Former Employer Gone
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It is hard not to be a little sad when a former employer unceremoniously goes under. It is a little like former girlfriends getting married: You didn't want to keep them, but you don't necessarily want somebody else to get them either.
With the sale of Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank finalised over the weekend, I felt slightly melancholic when I went over my CV and looked at the list of my former employers. A few of those companies still exist, but as it stands, an equal number have vanished.
After almost 200 years, ABN Amro has pretty much disappeared from the landscape; the London HQ on Bishopsgate was relabelled 'RBS' almost before the ink had dried on the contracts. And now Dresdner most likely won't last as a brand name either.
There is little dispute over the fact that Germany probably has too many retail banks, and that there are a lot of synergies to be exploited through a merger of the two. Since most banks nowadays want to play a role of some sort on the international stage, they need to be a certain size. Most German banks (apart from Deutsche) haven't had this size and were therefore acquired (like HVB) or failed to play a significant role if they couldn't merge (like most of the Landesbanks).
But having spent some time working at both Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank, I can't deny a certain melancholy over the demise of the latter.
It seems fairly certain that the merged institution will be labelled Commerzbank (after all, why would you spend EUR 9bn and then give up your brand name?) and that Dresdner - which decades ago advertised themselves as the 'bank with the green ribbon of sympathy' (whatever that means) - will be confined to the history books.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Dresdner Bank was one of the first banks to venture back into what was then still East Germany. This was, of course was driven by economic reasons, but was also an attempt to live up to their heritage as a bank from Dresden (which was in the East) and therefore destined to have a strong presence in this region when politics made it possible.
Years later in London I worked for their investment bank (then called DrKW), and there were always things seriously wrong with it as an institution (such as office politics, a lot of protectionism and plenty of bad management decisions). These things aside, which to a certain extent exist everywhere, people enjoyed working there, and the bank was able to attract talented individuals and had areas in which they genuinely succeeded.
However, Dresdner never lived up to its potential, which could be partially due to the fact that their owner, Allianz, never quite figured out what to do with an investment bank.
When their old offices in Riverbank House and on Fenchurch Street were demolished in the last years, that part of my employment history was eradicated. Now the firm itself will be gone before we know it.
I am always in favour of letting institutions fail (or be acquired) if their business model does not work.
But that doesn't mean that I can't help but feel a bit sentimental about the passing of a 150 year-old institution I genuinely enjoyed working for.
- Anonymous
After almost 200 years, ABN Amro has pretty much disappeared from the landscape; the London HQ on Bishopsgate was relabelled 'RBS' almost before the ink had dried on the contracts. And now Dresdner most likely won't last as a brand name either.
There is little dispute over the fact that Germany probably has too many retail banks, and that there are a lot of synergies to be exploited through a merger of the two. Since most banks nowadays want to play a role of some sort on the international stage, they need to be a certain size. Most German banks (apart from Deutsche) haven't had this size and were therefore acquired (like HVB) or failed to play a significant role if they couldn't merge (like most of the Landesbanks).
But having spent some time working at both Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank, I can't deny a certain melancholy over the demise of the latter.
It seems fairly certain that the merged institution will be labelled Commerzbank (after all, why would you spend EUR 9bn and then give up your brand name?) and that Dresdner - which decades ago advertised themselves as the 'bank with the green ribbon of sympathy' (whatever that means) - will be confined to the history books.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Dresdner Bank was one of the first banks to venture back into what was then still East Germany. This was, of course was driven by economic reasons, but was also an attempt to live up to their heritage as a bank from Dresden (which was in the East) and therefore destined to have a strong presence in this region when politics made it possible.
Years later in London I worked for their investment bank (then called DrKW), and there were always things seriously wrong with it as an institution (such as office politics, a lot of protectionism and plenty of bad management decisions). These things aside, which to a certain extent exist everywhere, people enjoyed working there, and the bank was able to attract talented individuals and had areas in which they genuinely succeeded.
However, Dresdner never lived up to its potential, which could be partially due to the fact that their owner, Allianz, never quite figured out what to do with an investment bank.
When their old offices in Riverbank House and on Fenchurch Street were demolished in the last years, that part of my employment history was eradicated. Now the firm itself will be gone before we know it.
I am always in favour of letting institutions fail (or be acquired) if their business model does not work.
But that doesn't mean that I can't help but feel a bit sentimental about the passing of a 150 year-old institution I genuinely enjoyed working for.
- Anonymous
