No peace at Flatexdegiro: Bernd Fortsch wants to join the Supervisory Board

Published: 2024-05-03 16:06:19 ET FTK.DE

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The turbulence at online broker Flatexdegiro shows no sign of abating. Major shareholder Bernd Fortsch wants to be elected to the Supervisory Board at the Annual General Meeting on June 4, as the company announced late Friday evening. GfBk Gesellschaft für Borsenkommunikation, which is controlled by him, has submitted a so-called supplementary request to the agenda. He would replace Herbert Seuling, who announced his resignation from the board on Friday for personal reasons.

Fortsch also wants to have the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Martin Korbmacher, recalled. If successful, Axel Horger is to be elected to the board. According to their information, he would be a member independent of GfBk, the press release continued.

Just last week, CEO Frank Niehage announced his resignation with effect from April 30. Prior to this, Fortsch had publicly settled accounts with the manager's work. Flatexdegiro justified the departure with "differing views on strategic development" and the well-being of the company. The search for a successor is ongoing. For the time being, the company will be managed by two fellow board members.

Niehage had been criticized for some time. While trading by small investors on Flatexdegiro's platforms climbed to unprecedented heights during the coronavirus pandemic, business volumes collapsed with the rise in inflation and interest rates as well as the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. In addition, the financial regulator Bafin identified a number of deficiencies in a special audit of the broker in 2022 - and increased the company's capital requirements.

In March, major shareholder Fortsch settled accounts with the company management in an interview. He told "Wirtschaftswoche" that the fall in the share price and the low market value of around one billion euros was the result of "operational, strategic and supervisory board mistakes".

In the interview, Fortsch criticized the lack of innovation at Flatexdegiro, an understanding of the market and "products that are super attractive for customers". For example, Flatex's previously simple fee structures are now just as opaque as those of its competitors. The company overslept the boom in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Competitors Swissquote and Trade Republic are worth around four times as much on the stock exchange as Flatexdegiro.

Fortsch is not only a major shareholder of Flatexdegiro, but also founded the company's predecessor himself 25 years ago. He still directly and indirectly holds just under 20 percent of all shares in the company./he/ck

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