DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA (DWS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Presentation] Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of my colleagues on the Supervisory Board, I would like to welcome you very warmly to today's Annual General Meeting for DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA. This Annual General Meeting is my 1st AGM as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DWS. It has been my pleasure to perform this role throughout my first year, and I would like to thank you all shareholders once again for the trust placed in me by electing me to the Supervisory Board at last year's Annual General Meeting. I am particularly grateful to my predecessor, Karl von Rohr, for his fantastic support throughout the transition. Special thanks once again to my other colleagues on the Supervisory Board, who elected me as Chairman, a clear indicator of their confidence in me from the start. Over the past 12 months, our efficient teamwork has helped DWS to gain new grant. I will come back to the progress that DWS has made during this successful year later on. I would also like to commend the Executive Board for their cooperative and transparent partnership over the past year. Moreover, the Executive Board was instrumental in turning the spotlight back on to the fund business in 2024. And last but not least, I would like to thank the Deutsche Bank Management Board member responsible for DWS, James von Moltke, for his commitment and excellent collaboration on the joint committee. But let me now come back to today's AGM of DWS, which I hereby open. Ladies and gentlemen, before turning to the contents of my speech, let me, first of all, briefly take you through the formalities required at an Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting was convened in proper form and in due time with the publication of the agenda in the Federal Gazette of 30th of April 2025. All members of the Executive Board of the General Partner are present here today. Although not all of them are invited here on the spot. These are Stefan Hoops; Markus Kobler, who is unable to be with us today due to illness, but is joining us via video; all the best. Rafael Otero, Karen Kuder, Dirk Goergen, and Manfred Bauer. I am pleased to welcome you all in person here. With the exception of Angela Meurer, who unfortunately is also unable to be with us today due to illness, all members of the Supervisory Board are also personally present here today. For the shareholder representatives, these are my deputy, Ute Wolf, Karl von Rohr, Margret Suckale, Aldo Cardoso, Kazuhide Toda, Richard Morris, and Christina Bannier. And for the employee representatives, Erwin Stengele, Christine Metzler, and Stephan Accorsini. Let me also welcome all of you very warmly. Moreover, on your far right, we have our notary, Dr. Habetha. He will be taking notarized minutes of today's Annual General Meeting. The list of attendance is currently being drawn up. I will announce attendance once the list will have been completed. The attendance area covers Congress Center at the Frankfurt's trade fair grounds. This is where the studio and the back-office facilities are located and where the counting of votes will take place later today. This is also where the company's proxy is located. The agenda with the wording of the proposed resolutions is on display here. In addition, the notary has a copy at hand. The full wording of the agenda is also available on our website. A live audio and video broadcast of the entire AGM will be available on our website today. This means that both our shareholders and interested members of the public can follow the broadcast. A recording up to the end of the speech by the Chairman of the Management Board will also be available on our website after the Annual General Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, so much for the formalities. Let me now turn to the reports of the Supervisory Board on its activities in the past financial year. To ensure the effective performance of its function, both in the plenary meetings and the committee meetings, the Supervisory Board receives regular reports and specific updates as and when appropriate, particularly from the members of the Executive Board. We are informed about the company's business development and strategy, corporate financial and human resources planning, profitability, as well as its risk, liquidity and capital management activities. The main activities of the Supervisory Board in financial year 2024 are covered in detail on Pages V to XIII of our Annual Report 2024. I would, therefore, like to highlight only some of the topics we did with at this point. The Supervisory Board and its standing committees had a total of 27 meetings last year. The average attendance rate was more than 95%. The full Supervisory Board met 10 times. In addition to monitoring day-to-day business operations, our primary task here was to advise the Executive Board on the implementation of the strategic core projects. Specifically, these projects included DWS' growth strategy, its market position in Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific, plus the multiyear transformation program. Together, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board concentrated on implementing this strategy, thereby researching the related trends, risks and opportunities. As in previous years, we also held a 2-day strategy offsite last August. It was attended by the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board, representatives of the extended leadership team, and the Deutsche Bank AG Management Board member responsible for the Asset Management division. We deliberately placed a strong emphasis on strategy and growth discussions. During the meeting, we intensively discussed value-generating inorganic growth opportunities. We looked at developments in our active funds and alternative investments as well as our Xtrackers business. We chase the progress of our digital assets and examines our wholesale and institutional strategy more closely. Our sustainability strategy and data strategy were further subject of debate. We'd also discussed our strategy in Europe, APAC, and America with our regional experts. Last year, we focused in particular on considering the strategic risks that are relevant to us. Other topics included IT and our employee strategy. In 2024, the sustainable profitability of our business and the cause for further future growth were the priorities for us on the Supervisory Board. Accordingly, we engaged in a thorough examination of the company's strategic development, which encompassed both organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Apart from strategy topics, we continue to continually work on systematically refining our internal control processes. Control topics are an essential part of all our Supervisory Board meetings. Moreover, the Supervisory Board, closely monitor the ongoing ESG investigations by the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt over the last year. The AdHoc Committee provided us with comprehensive insight into the status of the ongoing investigations and the further courses of action planned. The Supervisory Board welcomes the fact that the investigations against DWS have now been concluded, which means it can now focus its efforts on moving forward. I would now like to address three of the items on the agenda for today in greater detail: Firstly, the election to the Supervisory Board under agenda Item 7. Secondly, the resolution on the approval of the compensation system for the managing directors of the general partner under agenda Item 8. And thirdly, the decision on the remuneration of the members of the Supervisory Board under agenda Item 9. Please allow me to briefly run through the current developments regarding the composition of the Supervisory Board. Supported by the recommendation of the shareholder representatives on its Nomination Committee, the Supervisory Board decided to propose Tomohiro Yao for election as shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board under agenda Item 7 at the AGM. Mr. Yao has been nominated as Mr. Toda has decided to resign from the Supervisory Board upon the close of today's AGM. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Toda for his excellent constructive work on our Supervisory Board. Time and again, he has enhanced the Supervisory Board with his strategic advice and global expertise. Mr. Yao, will briefly introduce himself as the new candidate for the Supervisory Board later on. At this point, I will therefore only review this much. Mr. Yao is currently Executive Officer and Head of Americas as well as Head of Europe at Nippon Life Insurance Company. He brings a wealth of experience in a wide range of roles at Nippon Life. Moreover, he has been extensively involved in committees through various Board appointments on other supervisory committees in the Asia Pacific region, the U.S. and the U.K. The external mandates included Mr. Yao's CV, our non-executive directorships for unlisted companies that are directly related to his activities at Nippon Life. What's more? Mr. Yao has known DWS for quite some time. We are confident that we have found an outstandingly qualified candidates to complement our Supervisory Board. Therefore, I'm very much looking forward to welcoming Mr. Yao as a member of the Supervisory Board and wish him every success in his role at this point. Ladies and gentlemen, let me now come to the second of the previously mentioned three agenda items. The compensation system for members of the Executive Board was last ratified in the Annual General Meeting in 2021 and has not been amended significantly since then. In line with statutory requirements, we will be submitting the system for your approval this year. The system was reviewed at the shareholders' meeting of the general partner in consultation with the joint committee and with the support of an external consultant who supported these activities. Current market practice and market trends as well as the relevant regulatory requirements and investors' expectations were all taken into account. As the previous system had proven robust, only minor changes were made. The emphasis was placed on more fully reconciling the interest of shareholders and the Executive Board. The system has also been simplified. Regarding the long-term variable component, the earnings per share growth rates is introduced as a new target. Net flows, now in the form of a long term net flows and the cost-to-income ratio, now in the form of the reported cost-to-income ratio remain key financial targets. Transparency is thus enhanced by aligning performance criteria with external reporting. Sustainability goals continue to make up a relevant part of the long-term targets. They are being updated in accordance with the objectives of the strategy. The number of targets in the short-term variable components will be reduced in order to enable more focused targeting. The system thus continues to be a key factor in facilitating and implementing a long-term DWS strategy in accordance with your interests as shareholders. And it should continue to enable competitive and market-oriented remuneration in the future. Further details on the compensation system can be found in the explanatory notes on agenda Item 8 in the invitation to our Annual General Meeting as well as online on the Annual General Meeting page on the company's website. The compensation system will be applied in this financial year, and we kindly ask you for your approval. This takes me to the third and last of the three agenda items mentioned beforehand. As you have already seen on the agenda Item 9, the Supervisory Board remuneration package is to be increased as appropriate and a market-oriented attendance fee introduced for meetings. In the past 7 years, since DWS' IPO in 2018, the remuneration of the Supervisory Board members has not been updated. However, the Supervisory Board's compensation package must be adjusted in order to attract highly qualified candidates on the international stage. In addition, the demands placed on Supervisory Board members in terms of time commitment and accountability have increased substantially in recent years. An independent external remuneration adviser proposed the increase and confirmed it was proportionate. In the first quarter of this year, he carried out a peer group comparison, which examined the remuneration paid at DWS in relation to that of its competitors. Further details on the compensation system of the Supervisory Board can be found in the explanatory notes on Agenda Item 9 in the invitation to our Annual General Meeting. The General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose to adopt the amendment to the Articles of Association required for the adjustment. Ladies and gentlemen, this takes us back to the activities of the Supervisory Board. As every year, the Supervisory Board also deals with the dependency report, which lists the company's relationships with affiliated companies and thus with Deutsche Bank. This dependency report was prepared by the Executive Board and audited by KPMG as the statutory auditor. KPMG did not raise any objections and issued an unqualified audit opinion. The wording of the audit opinion can be found on Page XIII of our Annual Report 2024. Moreover, KPMG has audited the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements as well as the summarized management report for the annual and consolidated financial statements for financial year 2024, issuing an unqualified audit opinion in each case. Its wording can be found starting from Page 200 of the Annual Report 2024 in the German version. The Supervisory Board has also reviewed the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements drawn up by the Executive Board, along with the dependency report. Based on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee and following an in-depth discussion with the representatives of the statutory auditor, KPMG, we unanimously approve the annual financial statements as well as the consolidated financial statements. The review of the dependency report and the audit report of the statutory auditor KPMG did not lead to any objections. Likewise, there were no grounds for objections to the final declarations of the Executive Board. Ladies and gentlemen, let us now move on to the activities of the various Supervisory Board committees. The Audit and Risk Committee met a total of 10x under Ms. Wolf as Chairperson. It supported the Supervisory Board in monitoring the control, reporting and accounting processes and addressed intensively the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements as well as the interim reports and the report issued by the statutory auditor. In this context, the committee reviewed the valuation of goodwill and other intangible assets as well as the service fees charged by Deutsche Bank AG and its subsidiaries and related governance processes. The committee also monitor the effectiveness of the risk management system, in particular with regard to the internal control system and internal audit, while taking account of our multiyear transformation program. Furthermore, the committee examined the group's risk appetite statement and the overarching risk strategy, which is embedded in the risk management framework. This also includes the integration of sustainability risks into the framework. Therefore, in 2024, the committee also turned the spotlights on to the CSRD, that is the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Moreover, the Audit and Risk Committee held a number of extraordinary meetings. These focused, in particular, on the discussion of audit findings, the CSRD reporting and the EU taxonomy regulation. For financial year 2024, the Audit and Risk Committee also recommended a renewal of the audit engagement of KPMG. The deliberations took into account the results of the review of the statutory auditor's independence, which did not identify any indications for any risk to independence. Another central topic discussed by the committee was the proposal to be discussed on the Agenda Item 5 regarding the selection process of the auditor of its annual and consolidated financial statements as well as the auditor for its sustainability reporting. For financial year 2025, the Audit and Risk Committee recommended engaging KPMG to audit the annual financial and consolidated financial statements. KPMG is also to be appointed to carry out the audit review of the condensed financial statements and interim management report as of 30th of June 2025. And if applicable, other intra-year financial information prior to 31st of December 2025. This is different for an audit review of any other financial information generated during the year with effective dates after 31st of December 2025, provided this is established before the ordinary Annual General Meeting 2026. To this end, the committee recommended that the Supervisory Board propose EY as auditor to the Annual General Meeting. This proposal which the Supervisory Board has adopted with its proposal to the AGM is the result of a selection process conducted by the Audit and Risk Committee. With the entry into force of the law implementing the aforementioned EU CSRD directive into German law, KPMG is to be appointed as independent auditor to confirm the sustainability reporting for financial year 2025. Nonetheless, the Supervisory Board should only implement the resolution in the event that the CSRD implementation act requires that the sustainability reporting to be produced for financial year 2025 be confirmed externally by an auditor to be appointed by the Annual General Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, the Remuneration and Personnel Committee chaired by Ms. Suckale held five meetings in 2024. It monitor the appropriate structure of the compensation systems for employees and key risk takers who have a material influence on the overall risk profile of the group. In addition, the committee reviewed corporate culture and was regularly informed about significant regulatory requirements and the impact on the group's compensation framework. The committee also took account of changes in regulatory requirements by amending its rules of procedure. The Nomination Committee held two meetings in 2024. In the first half of the year, the committee was chaired by former Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Karl von Rohr. Upon my appointment in June of last year, I took over chairmanship. As in previous years, the Nomination Committee carried out an efficiency review in 2024. In doing so, the Nomination Committee prepared the self-assessment of the Supervisory Board. Moreover, it's annualized, in particular, the results of this evaluation, identifying focus areas and recommending possible measures to the Supervisory Board. As in prior years, a neutral external adviser supported the over process. Details on the activities of the committees can be found on Pages IX to XI of the Annual Report. Let me now outline the activities of the joint committee in the past finance year. You can find more detailed information on this starting on Page XVI of our Annual Report. The joint committee met five times in 2024. In accordance with its statutory duties in powers, the committee discussed in-depth variable remuneration, the compensation structure and individual targets for the Managing Directors of the General Partner. The joint committee submitted proposals on variable remuneration to the shareholders meeting of the General Partner. It is responsible for defining the compensation of the managing directors and has followed these proposals. As mentioned earlier, the committee also carried out a review of the compensation system for the Executive Board. The committee also dealt with the contract extension of Stefan Hoops, which the joint committee supported due to his performance delivered over the last few years. The committee also discussed the planned appointment of Rafael Otero as a member of the Executive Board and new Chief Technology and Operations Officer effective 1st of October 2024, as well as the contract extension of Dirk Goergen. In the financial year under review, the Joint Committee also extended the contract of Karen Kuder for a further 3 years. Ladies and gentlemen, like the Supervisory Board Committees, the compensation of the joint committee has not been adjusted in the 7 years that have passed since the IPO in 2018. The General Partner and the Supervisory Board, therefore, propose that the respective amendment to the Articles of Association be adopted under Agenda Item 10 in order to adjust the remuneration of the members of the joint committee. The amendment takes increased workloads and the risk profile of the committee into account. Ladies and gentlemen, following these remarks, most of which are required by law, let us now move on to the higher-level business issues. Since our last Annual General Meeting, DWS has continued to make good headway in implementing its strategy. Let me share a few key examples with you. In its growth area of Passive including Xtrackers, DWS sets a new record in net flows of approximately EUR 42 billion in 2024, thereby exceeding the previous all-time high achieved the year before in exchange-traded products, especially ETFs. Investment in this growth segment clearly pays dividends. In its other growth category, Alternatives, DWS recently entered into an important partnership with Deutsche Bank. Together, our goal is to develop private lending and investment opportunities for DWS clients in the private credit sector. This measure aims to accelerate growth in Alternatives. In addition, DWS has completed its multiyear transformation program. With this approach, we focused our efforts on providing stand-alone solutions in those areas that are differentiating factors for us as an asset manager. At the same time, we continue to take advantage of expertise, purchasing advantages and economies of scale in some IT areas by partnering with Deutsche Bank. And last but not least, in March 2025, DWS was admitted to the index, the German index that tracks mid-cap companies. The move from the SDAX followed the rise in DWS' share price, which also reached a new high in the first quarter of 2025. Stefan Hoops will present the progress delivered by DWS and implementing its strategy to you in greater detail in a moment. Ladies and gentlemen, the results of the past financial year also speak for themselves. DWS was able to double its long-term net flows year-on-year. This is impressive evidence of its strength to grow organically. Along with the positive market environment, this helps take assets under management to a new record level. At the end of last year, for the first time, we crossed the EUR 1 trillion threshold. This also enabled DWS to achieve a new record in revenues while significantly improving both profit before tax and net income. In view of the strong financial results in 2024, we propose a further increase in the ordinary dividend. More specifically, for the sixth year in a row to EUR 2.20 per share. DWS also got off to a successful start this year. Not only did report high long-term net flows in the first quarter, the company set a new record for total net flows in 1 quarter. What's more, it posted the second best quarterly result since its IPO 7 years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, the outstanding results for the past year and the first quarter of 2025 are testament to the exemplary work of our Executive Board under the chairmanship of Stefan Hoops. I would like to thank the entire Executive Board, and in particular, all DWS employees around the world on behalf of the full Supervisory Board. These results go to show that extending Stefan Hoops contract for a further 3 years until 2028, as I said earlier, was undoubtedly the right decision. Since taking over DWS in 2022, in the challenging environment, he has restored confidence in our company and set us back on the right track. As a result, DWS is now well positioned for the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Hoops for this. Ladies and gentlemen, the new U.S. administration's tariff policy has caused the environment to take a turn for the worse in the current quarter, sending uncertainty soaring. This applies both to economies around the world and to asset managers. Nevertheless, with its diversified business model, which has proven effective time and again in the last few years and the management team headed by our CEO, Stefan Hoops, DWS is in a strong position to offer clients the right products and reach its targets for 2025 despite the turmoil on the financial markets. The Supervisory Board will continue to oversee the management's activities with critical diligence, while also providing its considered guidance. Shareholders, our CEO, Stefan Hoops, will now present the strategic alignment of DWS and tell you more about its business developments. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Thank you very much, dear Oliver Behrens. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I too should like to welcome you on behalf of the entire Executive Board to this ordinary Annual General Meeting of DWS Group. This Annual General Meeting is rather special because it's not only the 7th such meeting since the IPO, but also, and I say this with great pride, the first AGM in which DWS is listed in the MDAX. In March, we were admitted to the select circle of Germany's top 50 mid-cap companies. This promotion to the stock exchange's second division shows how attractive our company is, and it is also a testimony to your confidence and support on the journey so far. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you. Permit me to spend the next few minutes outlining our journey in 2024 to reach this milestone in our history. In so doing, I shall give an account of the financial year 2024 and report on the progress made in implementing our strategy and where we stand at present. I should then like to take a brief look at the first part of 2025, giving the outlook for the rest of the year and beyond. After all, following a turbulent start to the year in politics and on the markets, you will understandably wonder how DWS views the coming months. Ladies and gentlemen, last year, I was able to report on the AGM on the successful turnaround of net inflows in 2023. This positive development continued and even accelerated during the past financial year. In 2024, we doubled our long-term net inflows, excluding cash products and advisory services to EUR 32.9 billion. Net flows in Passive, including Xtrackers, set a new record. Moreover, we had net inflows in active SQI, that is systematic and quantitative investments. And, ending a lengthy lean spell for Alternatives, the second half of 2024 saw positive overall net inflows in this part of our business too. Our strong net inflows helped to increase assets under management by EUR 115 billion in 2024. That takes us to yet another milestone. In December 2024, our assets under management crossed the EUR 1 trillion threshold. The stable stock market in 2024, paired with strong net inflows and a higher average volume of assets under management, resulted in management fee growth. But that is not all. Thanks in part to higher performance fees, revenues rose to a new record high of EUR 2.765 billion. In this connection, something that my fellow Board members and I find very important is that good revenues have not resulted in cost discipline being relaxed. On the contrary, in the past financial year, we succeeded in slightly reducing costs with total expenses amounting to approximately EUR 1.8 billion. We had confirmed our cost objectives for 2024 at the start of the year, specifying that we wanted the adjusted cost-to-income ratio to be between 62% and 64%. At the end of the year, the ratio stood at 62.3%, close to the lower end of the range. Revenues up, costs under control, as a result, we achieved a 22% increase in profit before tax in the past financial year, reaching EUR 951 million. Even after tax, growth was 18%, and the net income amounted to EUR 649 million. Earnings per share grew from EUR 2.76 in 2023 to EUR 3.25 in 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, the financial success of 2024 would not have been possible without the continued trust of our clients and the performance of our company and the people behind it. Therefore, personally and also on behalf of my colleagues, I should like to give a warm thanks to all our clients. Their financial success and satisfaction is our top priority. Day by day, it is what motivates us to be worthy of their trust. At the same time, also on behalf of the DWS Executive Board, I should like to thank our employees for their great dedication, performance and passion and for the uncompromising commitment to our clients last year. They are the people who work every day to generate value for our clients and thus also for you, our shareholders. And naturally, ladies and gentlemen, we should also like to thank you for the confidence placed in us. On the basis of the strong financial results and in line with our commitment to create value, we propose a higher ordinary dividend of EUR 2.20 per share for the year 2024. This represents the sixth consecutive annual increase. We consider this dividend in conjunction with the extraordinary dividend paid last year and the significant rise in our share price to be clear evidence that shareholder value is a top priority for DWS. The basis for a successful shareholder value strategy is reliable communication with the capital markets and with the general public. This also involves regular transparent reviews of where we stand in relation to our short- and medium-term goals. Let us start by looking at the financial objectives. At our Capital Markets Day in 2022, we outlined the following aims for the financial year 2025: Earnings per share of EUR 4.5, an adjusted cost-to-income ratio lower than 59%, equivalent to a non-adjusted cost-to-income ratio of less than 61.5% and a dividend payout ratio of about 65%. At the beginning of this year, we reaffirmed these objectives. I shall come back to this point later in my speech. Ladies and gentlemen, at last year's Annual General Meeting, I also talked about three short- and three medium-term aspirations, which we formulated at the start of 2024. In the short term, our goal was to swiftly and quietly resolve our internal challenges, continue delivering strong organic growth and generate alpha for our clients and investors. In the medium term, we want to establish DWS as the "Gateway to Europe" for international investors, to be one of the top 5 foreign asset managers in the world's five major economies and to play a role in shaping the future of finance. Allow me to provide an assessment of our current position in light of these ambitions, acknowledging, of course, that this view may carry a degree of personal perspective. I will begin with the desire to resolve our internal challenges as quickly and quietly as possible. Last year, I told you that we were on the home stretch of our transformation program, which had a time scale of several years. I indicated we would focus on those services and skills, which would make us more competitive in the asset management industry. This process is now complete, as is the adoption of a hybrid model for our IT. As described then, we continue to benefit from economies of scale in certain IT areas by partnering with Deutsche Bank. At the same time, we are building and expanding our own capabilities wherever that will make us more competitive. For example, with the view to DWS cloud solution. This element in the reduced category of our strategy will be completed by the end of the year, although continuous development of IT systems will obviously be an ongoing task. Another issue, one which attracted a great deal of public attention was finally solved by the end of the first quarter of 2025. Here, I refer to the investigations conducted by the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt related to ESG. This case, which has been an issue for nearly 3 years, was closed in early April. The Frankfurt public prosecutor's office found that a negligent oversight infringement had occurred and DWS has accepted a fine imposed. The deficits identified concern documentation and control processes, procedures and marketing statements relating to ESG. These are exactly the points that in the past we had repeatedly conceded in public. Over recent years, we have taken determined steps to address these weak spots and are continuously improving our internal documentation and control processes. We are pleased to have been able to settle this matter. My thanks go to the team of colleagues from the legal department and other specialist sections who have worked so hard in the past years on resolving this issue and on putting necessary procedural improvements in place. I believe that in this context, one thing is especially important. Even though we have resolved the issue in view of a permanently changing regulatory environment, it is the duty of each and every one of us to continue efforts to further improve our control and documentation processes. Ladies and gentlemen, permit me at this point to digress a little. Sustainability remains a highly relevant topic for us. Not only because science has convinced us that climate change is real and the economy and society must adjust to the situation and adopt countermeasures, but also because we have a fiduciary obligation to offer our clients the best possible wealth strategies, while keeping an eye on the long-term risks and opportunities. However, times have changed in respect of regional regulatory differences and also with regard to client preferences. In particular, I'm thinking here of the climate policies and regulatory framework of the U.S. administration, which create increasing legal implications and risks for companies in which we invest. Against this backdrop, we have further developed our sustainability strategy, which I sketched out 2 years ago. Our commitment remains unchanged. We aim to offer investment expertise and strategies, which enable our clients to cope with the sustainable transformation of the real economy. Our activities in this sphere confirm to our fiduciary principles. In this context, it is important to understand exactly what our fiduciary obligation entails. We are guided by the investment aims and decisions of our clients who have their own interest and key criteria. Therefore, we offer a wide range of investment strategies so that our clients can build long-term wealth. That includes strategies which promote sustainability and also those which serve conventional objectives. To put it in another way, in the past, DWS has never dictated to any client what strategy they should pursue when investing their money. And we will not do so in the future either. We offer Alternative products oriented to sustainability goals. But at the end of the day, our clients by choosing a product decide to what extent they wish to take environmental, social and governance aspects into account when investing their money. For our own part, as a company with a sense of responsibility, our aim remains to contribute to a more sustainable future. This means managing the environmental effects of our operational activities and through training and social commitment involving our employees in the advancement of a more sustainable corporate practice. Beyond that, our long-term sustainability indicators play a role in our financial incentives systems. In view of the dynamically changing political and regulatory issues, we shall continue to develop our sustainability processes and activities and adjust them to meet the new framework conditions. Ladies and gentlemen, I now return to the report on how we met our short- and medium-term ambitions in 2024. Our second short-term objective was to continue to deliver strong organic growth in 2024. I have already spoken of our progress in this area. The more than 10% increase in assets under management to over EUR 1 trillion during the financial year 2024 is a remarkable result that compares very well with other players in the field. The last short-term objective, generating alpha for investors and clients presents a more mixed picture. We are very pleased that we were able to generate alpha for our investors, as you doubtless already know from our previous remarks. Since 2022, your DWS has delivered a total shareholder return of close to 100%. This placed us well in front of our competitors in Europe and overseas, as well as ahead of all relevant share indices. Our promotion to the MDAX, mentioned before, is the reward for your company's clear orientation towards shareholder value. And almost by the way, we reached another milestone in February 2025, when our share price rose past the EUR 50 mark. DWS has thus a market capitalization of more than EUR 10 billion. However, the picture is not complete without mentioning that we cannot be completely satisfied with the performance of some investment strategies and product solutions, above all, not with the relative performance in the past year. Accordingly, we have taken action. In November, we appointed the head of our investment platform, Vincenzo Vedda, as Chief Investment Officer. He has taken over the Chief Investment Office and already started on the task of integrating portfolio management with the Chief Investment Office and Economic Research. Initial successes have become apparent in this year's current market environment, in which the CIO team's diversification drive is delivering results. The active strategies of DWS have developed better over recent months. Not least, thanks to their more defensive positioning. Ladies and gentlemen, our three medium-term aspirations also made good progress in 2024. I shall return in a moment to our promise to become the Gateway to Europe that will allow international investors access to European transformation. To fulfill our ambition to be one of the top 5 foreign asset managers in the world's five major economies, we are focusing above all on Asia. Here, we are concentrating in particular on strong regional partnerships and strategic investments. In Japan, where this year marks our 40th anniversary in the country, we delivered the strongest net inflows since our IPO last year. We continue to see great potential in the country and are profiting from our strong partnership with Nippon Life. As you know, in 2023, we extended this partnership for another 5 years. In China, we can build on our investment in Harvest Fund Management, in which we have held a 30% stake for several years. This investment reliably delivers returns. As communicated in the past, we are keen to do more in China. India is a highly interesting developing market for asset management. Here, our objective is a strategic partnership. In view of the aforesaid, we remain optimistic that over the course of the decade, we will succeed in fulfilling the stated ambition to be one of the top 5 in the top 5. Our third medium-term aspiration was to help shape the future of the financial industry. Two things are necessary here. On the one hand, suitable products and the corresponding link up with new digital distribution partners in order to gain clients among the digital natives who make their own investment decisions. On the other hand, we also need to build proprietary know-how and knowledge in order to be prepared for changes in our industry's value chain that will arise from the increased use of blockchain technology. I'm pleased to be able to report that we have made progress here that gives a reason for optimism. In April 2024, we set up our Xtrackers ETCs for Bitcoin and Ethereum in order to facilitate safe access to cryptocurrencies for our clients. At the same time, we have made good progress with our AllUnity joint venture, operated in collaboration with Flow Traders and Galaxy Digital. AllUnity will probably issue the first euro stablecoin on the market subject to regulatory oversight from BaFin in 2025. In addition, we shall continue to develop capacities and interfaces to attract digital platforms such as neo-broker. Over recent months, we have been able to expand our partnerships with leading providers. The outcome in 2024, some 30% of our Xtrackers inflows already came via these channels. Ladies and gentlemen, to sum up the year 2024, I should like to say that we are content, but we are not self-satisfied. Last year, we took some major steps towards fulfilling our medium-term aspirations. And we have also laid the foundation on which we can attain our ambitious financial aims for 2025. But we still need complete commitment to achieve these goals. That was also evident at the start of this year. Ladies and gentlemen, we succeeded in maintaining the momentum of 2024 in the first quarter of 2025. Net inflows, including cash products and advisory services totaled EUR 19.9 billion, setting a new DWS record. Once again, this was mainly driven by Passive including Xtrackers with the support of good inflows into active SQI and active fixed income. Long-term net inflows, excluding cash products and advisory services, comprised the handsome sum of EUR 11.7 billion. In a market environment, that was already volatile and marked by geopolitical uncertainties, the long-term assets under management slipped by 1% quarter-on-quarter to EUR 891 billion. In the first quarter, we could not fully compensate exchange rate movements and faltering markets. In contrast, overall assets under management remained stable and at EUR 1.01 billion, close to the record levels seen in the prior quarter. In a challenging market environment during the second quarter, assets under management had by the end of May, returned to approximately the same level as at the year-end 2024. However, the ongoing uncertainties on the market have tended to influence client behavior impacting net inflows. Currently, we are expecting the long-term net inflows in the second quarter to be about half as high as they were at the start of the year. More details on this topic will be contained in our media release for the second quarter to be published on 24th of July 2025. Dear shareholders, you all know that with hindsight, the year 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 belong as it were to a different era. I refer, of course, to the impact of President Trump's self-declared Liberation Day at the beginning of April, when he shook global capital markets with comprehensive swipe at customs tariffs. Since then, we have witnessed geopolitical uncertainties, the announcement of tariffs and counter-tariffs, their suspensions and exceptions and the conclusion of trade agreements, which are at best, open to interpretation. All these events have put added pressure on already volatile markets and rattled market players. There is a question mark hanging over the long-term effects on, for example, the roll of the U.S. dollar as reserve currency and over which economic and geopolitical alliances will emerge in the future. Consequently, the mood of investors remains cautious. And our industry, thus is entering a more complex and more difficult phase. The times when asset managers could rely on a comparatively comfortable market beta are over. Ladies and gentlemen, in such an environment, it is of little use to concentrate too hard on certain index levels or yield forecasts. The markets are driven by contradictory fast-moving forces making every base scenario just one of many possibilities. So what does an asset manager need in order to create alpha in such a market, in other words, to deliver to their shareholders added value relative to the market's overall development? Our view is that diversification and discipline are more important than ever. But something else is increasingly making a difference. It is the ability to offer a credible alternative to American competitors. And exactly that is a strong point of your DWS. Let's talk about diversification. DWS is one of the most diversified global asset managers in terms of our products, client groups and the regions in which we are active. As one of only a few global providers, we manage assets in excess of EUR 100 billion in each of the following categories: Active Equity, Active Fixed Income, Active Multi Asset and SQI, ETFs and Alternatives. This volume across such a wide spectrum of asset classes is our distinguishing feature. It means that we are not dependent on a single type of asset. It keeps us resilient even if markets change or our clients develop different needs. Our client base is a balanced mix of wholesale and institutional investors, and we are not dependent on the so-called captive distribution. That is a sales organization that sells our own products only. In a world in which partnerships can change rapidly, this independence eliminates event risks and gives us greater control and flexibility. I have already mentioned our regional ambitions. We are growing in regions of rising prosperity and our partnerships contribute to a stronger local presence. Thanks to this local expertise, we can adjust to a region's regulations and the expectations of its clients while remaining part of a global network. Let's talk about discipline. In an environment in which revenue growth is becoming increasingly volatile due to investor caution, a stringent cost structure is vital. We have rigorously controlled our costs over recent years. In so doing, we have delivered a good cost-to-income ratio that is better than most competitors' figures. Moreover, we are one of the few global providers on a market that is not currently engaged in restructuring or post-merger integration. And as mentioned before, last year, we completed our transformation program. That means that we can now concentrate fully on the implementation of our strategy and on growing our business. And thanks to the good cost-to-income ratio, every increase in revenue can make a significant contribution to our financial results. So much for the basics. Ladies and gentlemen, earlier, I mentioned our medium aspiration to be perceived by international investors as their Gateway to Europe. I have also briefly touched on the effects on the global economy of decisions made by the President of the U.S. In this context, our identity as a European asset manager with deep roots in Germany is something we must make the most of, along with our skills in bringing perspectives together in a global context, because the way people view Europe is changing sustainably. Only a few months ago, global investors regarded Europe with a mixture of skepticism and disinterest. Low growth prospects, concerns about stability and fiscal unity, paired where the infamous European bureaucracy and national interests have tended to frighten investors away. But the geopolitical pressures of the past few weeks have brought about European reforms that probably would not have happened otherwise. The most relevant aspects are reversible decisions that are leading the continent and above all Germany down a different economic path than hitherto. I refer here to the so-called debt break or balanced budget law, now revised to exempt defense spending from its restrictions. And I also refer to the EUR 500 billion special fund for infrastructure projects. In his first speech laying out the government's agenda, Federal Chancellor, Merz, reemphasized that state investment should also mobilize private capital. This is the right course. Why? Because it generates fresh momentum on the domestic market. It strengthens and channels popular desire for transformation and the vision for the future. And last but not least, it encourages international players to invest more in Europe. At present, we are witnessing a repatriation movement as European wealth is being withdrawn from the U.S. to flow back to the old world. At the same time, talks with the international clients, especially those in Asia and the Middle East indicate that they are planning to change the allocation of their portfolios as well. As one of Europe's leading asset managers and the undisputed #1 in Germany, we are in a strong position to benefit from this momentum. And indeed, talks with these clients reveal that there is a strong demand for our expertise and our ability to connect the dots. That is linking perspectives across regions and asset classes. Ladies and gentlemen, even if the signs are looking good, the Executive Board still has the important task of regularly checking whether our strategy is still viable or whether we need to make adjustments. The Supervisory Board, as Oliver Behrens has indicated, has been closely involved in this process in the context of strategy discussions. The result is that we are convinced that the strategy we presented at the Capital Markets Day in 2022 remains valid and is right for DWS. The major focus sectors remain: Reduce, meaning the ongoing optimization of our setup; Value, meaning our core and active management; Growth, meaning focused investments in growth of the Xtrackers and Alternatives business; and Build, meaning the buildup of forward-looking business areas and the required proprietary knowledge. However, an unbiased assessment of the situation must include the fact that in some areas, we have not yet fully realized our full potential or have not been able to implement plans perfectly. Consequently, we have defined some focused topics that are to be treated with priority. One of these is to return to a stronger concentration on the active business, especially in the German market. This is at the heart of DWS, the core of your company throughout its nearly 70-year history. We wish to strengthen and further grow this business. We want to further address potential in our Alternatives sphere. In the first half of 2025, we agreed to cooperate with Deutsche Bank in the private credit sector, which gives us and our clients preferential access to certain asset-based finance, direct lending and other private credit asset opportunities originated by Deutsche Bank. Last but not least, we wish to better exploit the potential inherent in offers for our institutional clients. We will tackle these topics with cross-sector project teams and clearly defined responsibilities with regular tracking at board level, in order to steer the future development of your DWS. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached an important moment in the history of DWS. Over recent years, we have transformed the company and structured it so, that we can concentrate on growth and the implementation of our strategy. We have caught up with competitors, but we have not yet overtaken them. As I said before, our industry has entered a new more difficult phase. In this phase, we shall see who has done their homework. And in this phase, we shall see who is ready to overtake. Over the past years, your DWS has worked hard and now has the confidence to say, we are ready, because while we continue to focus rigorously on implementing our strategy for organic growth, we also believe that impending market volatility can offer interesting non-organic opportunities. When times are stressful for markets, structural weaknesses often become apparent. And as a focused company with a large capital resources, we are in a strong position to take action where others may perhaps encounter difficulties. Therefore, it is important for us to remain able to react with financial flexibility. Despite the distribution of an extraordinary dividend last year, we still have considerable capital reserves. This puts us in a position to open up new avenues and pursue new opportunities. Rest assured, we will be concentrating on those opportunities that create genuine value for our clients and for you, our shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, what does this all mean for our financial objectives? As I already said, we still aim to return earnings per share of EUR 4.5 for the full year 2025. We still consider that to be realistic and achievable, even if the latest market fluctuations have widened the range for potential outcomes. At the start of the year, we also announced medium-term financial objectives, which we should like now to reconfirm. In 2026 and '27, we are seeking earnings per share growth of 10% per annum. We expect this growth to be driven by rising revenues and ongoing cost management. We also expect to further improve the reported cost-to-income ratio, which we intend to push down to 61.5% by the end of 2025. In addition, we are still aiming for a dividend payout ratio of about 65%. We are convinced that your DWS will thus be an even more attractive investment in future. We are working all out to achieve this. Thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you, dear, Stefan, for your explanations, which should have given our shareholders a good overview of the current situation of our company. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the topics on today's agenda, we would like to begin also this year's meeting by remembering the deceased employees and retirees of DWS. For this, I would like to ask you to pause for a moment and ask those present here to rise from their seats, please. Thank you for this moment of commemoration. We now come to the attendance at today's Annual General Meeting. Based on the data submitted to me, I can announce the attendance as follows. The company's share capital in the amount of EUR 200 million is divided into 200 million, no par value shares. Of those at today's AGM, 179,339,213 no par value shares are represented -- representing the equal amount of votes. This corresponds to 89.67% of the share capital. Moreover, we have received poster votes in the amount of 64,353 no par value shares. In total, this amounts to 179,403,566 no-par value shares, which corresponds to 89.7% of the share capital. You can view the list of participants in our access protected shareholder portal. In addition to the votes represented by the company's proxy, the list also includes the shareholders who have joined the meeting electronically and the representatives of shareholders who have joined the meeting electronically. That list is updated from time to time without me announcing the respective changes in attendance. Shareholders who have properly registered and who have provided proof of their shareholding, can still use the shareholder portal to exercise their voting rights directly by postal vote or can issue powers of attorney and instructions to the company's proxy, and can also change their instructions. I will inform you in good time of the exact point in time when the opportunity to vote will end. To use the portal, please use the access data on the registration confirmation that was sent to you after your proper registration and proof of your shareholding. With that, we come to today's agenda, which comprises 11 items. Item 1 concerns the financial reporting of DWS for the 2024 financial year and includes the Annual financial statements and the management report for DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, which were prepared in accordance with the German Commercial Code HGB and approved by the Supervisory Board. And also the consolidated financial statements and the group management report in accordance with IFRS and the report of the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, these documents and the proposal for the appropriation of profits have been available on our website since the convening of the Annual General Meeting on April 30, 2025. Additionally, they have also been available at our headquarters offices. The annual financial statements and the management report as well as the consolidated financial statements and the group management report were previously audited by KPMG Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, the auditor elected by the Annual General Meeting in 2024. Neither the audit by the auditor nor the audit carried out by the Supervisory Board which also cover the proposal for the appropriation of profits give rise to any objections. The auditor issued an unqualified audit opinion. The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements at its meeting on 10th March 2025. The adoption of the annual financial statements is the responsibility of today's Annual General Meeting. And I would also refer you to my introductory remarks on the report of the Supervisory Board, which can be found on Pages VII to XIII of the 2024 Annual Report. The auditors, Mr. Fox and Ms. Adilova from KPMG AG -- from KPMG, are also present here in the attendance area. The other items on the agenda which are also available in their full wording on our Annual General Meeting website include Item 2, the appropriation of distributable profit. The General Partner and the Supervisory Board are proposing to you today that a dividend of EUR 2.2 per share be distributed from the 2024 distributable profit. Agenda Items 3 and 4, the formal approval of the actions of the General Partner and the members of the Supervisory Board for the 2024 financial year. Item 5, the election of the auditor and the group auditor for the 2025 financial year as well as the auditor for any review of the condensed financial statements and interim management report as at 30th June 2025, and any other financial information prepared with reporting dates prior to 31st December 2025 under Item 5.1. Under Item 5.2, the election of the auditor for the review of any other financial information prepared during the year, with reporting dates after 31st December 2025 insofar as this is prepared before the Annual General Meeting in 2026. And under Agenda Item 5.3, the election of the auditor for the sustainability reporting for the 2024 financial year. Under agenda Items 5.1 and 5.3, the Supervisory Board proposes, based on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee, that KPMG Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft be elected as auditor and also as auditor of the sustainability reporting. Under agenda Item 5.2, the Supervisory Board proposes, based on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee that EY GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft be elected as auditor. Ladies and gentlemen, agenda Item 6 contains the annually scheduled resolution on the approval of the compensation report for the 2024 financial year. Agenda Item 7 deals with an election to the Supervisory Board. Mr. Kazuhide Toda has decided to resign from the Supervisory Board at the end of today's Annual General Meeting. Therefore, a new shareholder representative is to be elected today. Based on the recommendations of the shareholder representatives in its Nomination Committee, the Supervisory Board proposes the election of Mr. Tomohiro Yao to the Supervisory Board. Under Agenda Item 8, the Supervisory Board proposes that the revised compensation system for the managing directors of the general partner be approved. Under Agenda Item 9, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose to approve an amendment to Article 14 of the Articles of Association, which regulates the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board as well as the underlying compensation system. In agenda Item 10, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board proposed an amendment to Section 19 of the Articles of Association, which governs the compensation of the members of the joint committee. Agenda Item 11 concerns an amendment to the Articles of Association to further allow for virtual annual general meetings. The General Partner and the Supervisory Board proposed that the General Partner be authorized with the approval of the Supervisory Board, to provide that the Annual General Meeting of the company can be held without the physical presence of shareholders or their proxies at the venue of the Annual General Meeting, which is in virtual format. This authorization shall again be valid for 2 years from the entry of the amendment to the Articles of Association and the company's commercial register. And shall apply regardless of the General Partners' plans to hold the Annual General Meeting in 2026 in an attendance format. Finally, I would like to point out that we have published, pursuant to statutory requirements under Sections 126 and 127 of the German Stock Corporation Act that we have published three counter motions on our website. These are my explanations on the agenda. Shareholders, in addition to my introductory remarks, we would now like to give Mr. Tomohiro Yao, the new candidate for election to the Supervisory Board, the opportunity to briefly introduce himself. Mr. Yao is here in the room and will now speak to you. He will introduce himself to you in English. So in the German language channel, you will essentially hear the interpreter. Mr. Yao, the floor is yours.

Dear shareholders, it is an honor for me to introduce myself to you personally at DWS Annual General Meeting today. My name is Tomohiro Yao, and the Supervisory Board of DWS has nominated me to be elected as the shareholders representative to the Supervisory Board. As I would like to ask you to support my nomination, please allow me to give you some key information about my personal and academic background. I was born and raised in Nara, Japan. I am a Japanese student, and I currently live in the United States in New York City. Before embarking on my professional career, I studied at the Faculty of Law at Kyoto University in Japan. Then later, during my professional career, I completed MBA at the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania in the United States. In terms of business experience and leadership, I have been working at Nippon Life Insurance company for 30 years and have held several senior leadership positions spanning across our global businesses. Allow me to elaborate further. Since joining Nippon Life Insurance Company in 1995, most of my business experience and focus has been in the area of international mergers and acquisitions, international planning and operations and the global insurance business of Nippon Life Insurance Company. As part of the management team, I have held the position of Regional CEO for Asia Pacific, in charge of Nippon Life's overseas businesses and responsible for expanding both life insurance and asset management businesses in the Asia Pacific region. Currently, I am Executive Officer and have had this position since 2023. And I have been Head of Americas and Europe of Nippon Life Insurance Company since March 2025. I also have extensive experience as a director in similar supervisory bodies comparable to the Supervisory Board of DWS Group. And I currently hold mandates in supervisory bodies in the U.K. and the U.S. Dear shareholders, I sincerely believe my experience, qualifications and skills would enable me to make a valuable contribution to the effective functioning of DWS Supervisory Board. Therefore, I kindly ask for your support by electing me to the Supervisory Board. I look forward to serving you with respect, commitment and unwavering dedication. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you very much, Mr. Yao, for the words about yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope this has given you a direct and immediate impression of Mr. Yao. We now come to the opportunities for shareholders to interact and participate in today's virtual Annual General Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, when choosing the format for today's AGM, we were particularly keen to engage with you. Unlike in previous years, this year, we have dispensed with the requirement to submit questions in advance. We believe that with the format of today's Annual General Meeting, we can further intensify and strengthen the dialogue between shareholders and management. Shareholders, therefore, at today's Annual General Meeting have full rights to speak, ask questions and propose motions. This is possible via live speeches and contributions. As the Chairman of the meeting, I have determined in accordance with Section 131 (1f) of the German Stock Corporation Act, that questions at today's Annual General Meeting can only be asked via video communication, that is in the course of speaking and making your contribution. Since 9:30 a.m., you have been able to register a request to speak in our Access protected shareholder portal by clicking on the register to speech button. After selecting this button, you will be taken to the input screen where you can enter all the information required for your contribution. This includes your name, your telephone number and your e-mail address. In the [indiscernible] or comments field, we ask you to provide us with further information. Speakers will be contacted in a sequence determined by me and after a functional test will be admitted to the waiting room. And from there, they will be able to further follow the proceedings of the meeting until they themselves give their speech live at the Annual General Meeting. At this point, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to register your speech in good time so that we can plan the procedure as well as possible. And in this context, I would also ask you to indicate if you would like to address any particular focal points or submit motions, so that I can take it into account when determining the sequence of speakers. If after the end of your contribution, you would like to make a further speech, you need to register this new contribution again by clicking on the corresponding button either by talk unmute and register to speech in the shareholder portal. Based on the experience of the last Annual General Meeting, I do not expect that we will need to set a strict time limit for your contributions. But I ask for your understanding that I reserve the right to do so. Irrespective of all this, I would like to ask all speakers to please limit themselves to a speaking time of no more than 10 minutes, so that also the other speakers can have their say in a reasonable amount of time. In order to ensure a level playing field, a clock will be visible to only the speaker and for myself during the speech. After 7 minutes have elapsed, the green display will change its color to yellow. Thus, underlining our request to give the following speakers also time for their contribution. After 10 minutes have elapsed, the color will change to red. You are, of course, at liberty to register again for the further contribution. Ladies and gentlemen, the first speakers from the first group have now arrived in the waiting room to address you. Currently, we have waiting Mr. Andreas Schmidt, Mr. Wolfgang Schäfer. After that, Mr. Philippe Diaz, followed by Ms. Julia Dubslaff. After her, there will be Ms. Federico Potts. And so far, last in group 1 is Mr. Markus Dufner. Before we move on to these speeches and contributions, please allow me to briefly remind you that if you have registered properly for the Annual General Meeting and provide a proof of your shareholding, you can exercise your voting rights via the shareholder portal. If you have opted or are going to opt for postal voting or have granted or are going to grant power of attorney and instructions to the company's voting proxy, you can also cast your vote by the shareholder portal during the Annual General Meeting up to the time specified by me for the respective vote. Up until this time, poster votes or instructions that have already been cast can also be changed via the shareholder portal. To use the portal, please use the Access data on the registration confirmation that was sent to you. I will specify the time frame once again -- once I have a better overview of the number and total duration of all contributions. But I would like to ask you already now to start making any entries in the shareholder portal in good time. And this is also in order to be able to deal with potential disruptions on the Internet.

We will now begin with the speeches. Ladies and gentlemen, the first speakers are waiting to make their contributions. And as I said already, I would like to ask you to limit yourselves if possible, to a time of no more than 10 minutes. If you've already registered a contribution but decide to not go for it after all, we would like to ask you to indicate this to us. The first speaker is Mr. Andreas Schmidt representing the German SDK Association. And he will be followed by Mr. Wolfgang Schäfer of the German DSW Association, followed by Philippe Diaz. Please be ready gentlemen. And now Mr. Andreas Schmidt has the floor.

Ladies and gentlemen, of the management, dear shareholders and guests. My name is Klaus Schmidt, Andreas Schmidt and I represent SDK, the German Private and Investor Association. I'd like to start with a couple of formal and also critical points. The first one being the format of today's AGM. You as the company that depends on the capital market and the security structure in your very essence of the business, it would indeed be appropriate to provide for a hybrid format to also follow, allow for the possibility to be on site and to join virtually. My second point refers to STADA. As far as we're aware, DWS so far did not file any payment claims in the case of STADA, any additional payment claims. There was the acquisition offer. And then the ruling of the German Federal Court in 2023. If this payment claims are not asserted, there will be no additional payments made. So for the funds affected by it and their investors, but potentially following that, also, there may actually be liability claims to DWS as a whole that could be asserted. So my question on that, what was the amount in this context or the inventory, say of STADA shares in the respective funds? What are the claims asserted so far? And if not all of them have yet been asserted, do you plan to do so? And if not, why didn't you -- don't you plan to do so? And why haven't you done so yet? Our second point goes to EY, suggested by you as your preferred auditor. Regardless of our concerns regarding the trustworthiness of EY, which we believe have neither initiated the necessary measures to work through the Wirecard disaster nor have they ever adopted adequate measures to prevent similar problems such as with Wirecard in the future. And possibly, they've even adopted measures in order to steal themselves out of any financial responsibility. But what's even more important, DWS ourselves -- DWS themselves, if I'm informed correctly, have filed action against EY? What's the amount in question here? And how can you prevent that EY learns of internal matters of your process and procedural strategy and make use of that, if they seriously audit your company. Either they are not going for a serious and comprehensive audit or you run the risk of putting at risk your own court suit since EY will gain insight into procedurally relevant documents in the course of their audit. Please comment on this, specifically as to why in this constellation, you plan to make EY your auditor? Who proposed EY as an auditor? And have these points not been considered? And obviously, given this we cannot at all agree to the election of that auditor. Now some operative questions. And over the last few years, a lot of positive things have happened at DWS. And I would really like to praise management in all of the employees for this. Not just did you calm things down, but also the operational business was strengthened and positioned better. So thank you very much indeed to the entire team. And dear shareholders, you might think that my critical questions don't fit in with this kind of price, but the objective is that you, dear investors, dear shareholders are provided with some support and help deciding whether DWS remains a good investment. So still some critical questions. But on the whole, I have to say, it's a very positive picture indeed. Thank you for that. Now currently, what roughly is the share of Passive products in new business and how stable are the Passive products? The net outflow for instance, with price or share price declines in the stock market, are the fluctuations there bigger or smaller than with actively managed products? And also currently, what's the average management fee with a Passive product? What kind of fee do you expect in, say, 5 years' time for Passive products? And possibly, you could also give us a cost-to-income ratio for Passive products on the one hand and actively managed products on the other. And now to go into a bit more detail, and I'll explain in a minute why I'm doing that. What would be the cost income ratio, for instance, for 2030, if the current share of Passive products in new business was to continue and the rest remained unchanged versus your planning? So what would this theoretical model calculation look like if the Passive share of new business was to grow by 5 percentage points or 10 percentage points, respectively? And with the unadjusted cost income ratio of below 60% as your target ratio, would that be achievable? And by the way, another word of praise that you are now referring to the unadjusted cost-to-income ratio. That's very good, because adjustments should be kept at a minimum at all times. My questions regarding this Passive target is what would it mean for DWS if almost all of the new inflows would go into these Passive products at the moment with you, but also with other companies, fund companies we are looking at 70% to 80% that go into Passive products? What would the structure look like and which measures could you initiate if such a scenario was to materialize? And if such trends become discernible because they are out there at the moment, does it make sense to really focus on CIR, the cost-to income ratio? I would presume that Passive products make a good contribution to the net profit for the year, but are a detrimental effect for the cost-to-income ratio. So for us, as capital investors, we don't care in the end how you improve your overall result for as long as it goes up. And I'd rather prefer additional Passive business, enhancing the overall profit versus no business or a cost-to-income ratio of above 60% at lower EPS. So what was it that in your group planning and management enjoys priority cost-to-income ratio or an additional low-margin Passive revenue. I believe a lot in cost discipline, and I fully agree with Mr. Hoops' speech on this. And obviously, the cost-to-income ratio is helpful for that. But doesn't one run the risk here that structures are geared towards active, which in the future, however, will only account to for 10% to 20% of new business? Second, growth hope is the private debt business in the area of Alternatives, as you also mentioned in your speech. And that's in cooperation with Deutsche Bank. I do see that this business field is rather in fashion at the moment, but I'm a bit more critical of it, because it reminds me of the CDO bubble that we had at the outset of the -- that led to the financial crisis of 2009. And the same happens with private debt. We can see some bundling going on. And once it goes on, we'll also be bundling unworthy securities and sell them. So what's your approach here? What's the volume you currently have under management? What volume are you aiming at? Or are you expecting? Is there any point of risk that you will be held liable? How do you manage the risk on behalf of your customers, but also for us as shareholders? And how do you control and check that you don't become the dumping ground for bad debt at Deutsche Bank? You've undergone an excellent development recently. And I can absolutely support that and congratulate you on it, but it was mostly driven by Germany in terms of growth. So it is really a blessing for you that you have such a strong position in the EU economy and some competitors certainly envy you for it. But international business does not balance this out so far. And it's not the Gateway to Europe, as you just said and certainly not a gateway when it comes to the U.S. or Asia. So planning for old age is something that's being subsidized in Germany, where you mentioned that briefly. And is your focus then still on internationalization? Or wouldn't it rather make sense to say, let's focus on the German business. And in parallel to that, that's also what you plan to do, focus on digital business. Because that, if you want, is borderless anyhow. And is there a risk, as Mr. Hoops also mentioned that providing for old age and old age pension planning in Germany is mostly run by the government institutions and U.S. the fund industry get very little of that. Maybe you could also comment on that a bit. That brings me to the end of my questions. Thank you very much for your excellent work, for the changes we've seen. And maybe my questions could also provide some input, some impulse for the future. I would like to thank you for your attention. And already at this point, I wish all of you a nice weekend. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Schmidt. Thank you for your comprehensive list of questions. Next, Wolfgang Schäfer will be given the floor. And I'd like to ask Philippe Diaz to get ready. Good morning. Mr. Schäfer, the floor is all yours.

Yes. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hoops, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Wolfgang Schäfer. I'm a lawyer in Frankfurt am Main, and I'm speaking to you on behalf of DWS today. We too would like to, first of all, use this opportunity to congratulate you on the excellent performance in the complete financial year despite the difficult situation around the board. We presume that you have set the course for another successful year, and this is at least what I took from your comments earlier today. We would also like to use this opportunity to thank all employees of our company for their commitment and hard work. Without them, this success, this performance would have been impossible. Please pass on our vote of thanks to them. Regardless of that, I have a couple of comments and above all questions regarding DWS' performance. As my previous speaker was already saying, we can't approve Agenda Item 11 because we cannot see that the authorization to hold a virtual AGM is only used in exceptional circumstances when holding an in-person AGM would be required due to pandemic or something along these lines were due to which the full presence of Board members plus the audience got to be impossible. Now questions. Where do you see additional growth perspective? And where do you believe we've already come to the end of the story? Where are we affected by increased protectionism of our international activities? What are the parallel structures that you are building in the Far East? We would also like to hear more about AI, digitalization is very popular these days. Do you have a long-term AI digitalization strategy? Please tell us about the three biggest opportunities and risks of AI and digitalization for our company? How would you assess our company in terms of products, processes and mindsets with regard to digitalization in the AI? What are the specific and/or long-term prospects that you're expecting from the realignment of the U.S. administration's policy? You've already experienced quite a lot in this respect. Our strategy is it -- Gateway to Europe, is it known to the White House? I don't believe that. As you're intending to grow in China and India, as you said earlier today and has also been published at the press, I'm also asking you to tell us more about the Chinese policy and our growth ambitions in China and our business, which, of course, is also impacted by the U.S. administration's policy. Please comment. Mr. Hoops, in your speech, you said that the investigation of the public prosecute in Frankfurt the regarding Greenwashing affair has been completed. We welcome that very much. With EUR 19 million of fines paid in the U.S. and EUR 25 million paid in Germany, this was not exactly cost effective. Unfortunately, however, in May, the press once again reported that there were some differences in terms of perception or interpretation within DWS between the management and one of your employees regarding sustainability. Both Greenwashing 2.0 affair emerge in this regard. Are you aware that the supervisory authorities in the U.S. and Germany have already launched or will soon launch a further investigation in this respect? According to the press, you are repositioning your DWS Invest ESG Women-for-Women fund in a new manner. It's now called DSW Invest ESG Social Focus. Please tell us more about the reasons for this repositioning. Is this due to the change in your sustainability strategy? Or has the strategy not worked for this fund? And is that why you now want to position yourselves more broadly? I've also got a couple of questions regarding the Supervisory Board and compliance. In accordance with Principal 19 of the German Corporate Governance Code and Recommendation D11, members of the Supervisory Board have to undertake further training on their own initiative and must be supported in this by the company. And according to the report of the Supervisory Board, this is actually what's been done. Please tell us the average number of hours of training and further education undertaken by the members of the Supervisory Board? Have you undertaken further costs for the training and further education of your Supervisory Board? And if so, please quantify these costs. According to the qualification metrics of the Supervisory Board, almost all of you have got basic knowledge and skills in the areas of governance and corporate culture and ESG and sustainability, including corporate and social responsibility. But the majority of members have extended expertise in these areas. Is this information based on the self-assessment by the respective member of the Supervisory Board? Or has this information been reviewed by your company or an excellent third party and propose to the respective member? Is this actually the same for all the various areas of expertise? Or are there differences depending on the respective area of expertise? I would also like to know how many compliance relevant reports you received last year. Please also tell us how these were submitted, for example, through a whistleblower office, et cetera? FAZ, The Frankfurt newspaper, were any violations of the law or any policy identified in the fit of these reports? If so, how many? Were there no further reports or indications that would have prompted the compliance office to investigate further? How many investigations have already been carried out in the current financial year by your compliance office, because this is a very important factor for your business. We need trust so much for me for the time being. Thanks a lot for your attention. I'm looking forward to hearing your answers.

Thank you, Mr. Schäfer. Thank you for your contribution. We'll come back to your questions later. Next, Philippe Diaz will be given the floor. And I'd like to ask Julia Dubslaff to please keep ready or get ready. You will be going next. Both are representatives of [indiscernible] The first audio, Mr. Diaz.

Yes, thank you. I hope you can hear me. Executive Board, Supervisory Board, shareholders, my name is Philippe Diaz, I'm a freelance in Sustainable Finance, above all for the civilian society. I'm speaking on behalf of critical shareholders, as already mentioned, the umbrella organization, and you will have come across me on the 1st of May 2024 in [ plus-minus ] on German television. Regarding a fund, which was advertised as the sustainable ESG funds by DWS on the website, but at best was an engagement fund. So a prime example of greenwashing. And this is also what the Frankfurt public prosecutor suggested. We all know that DWS went too far in terms of its statements regarding sustainability. This led to whistleblowing, lawsuits, investigations by the federal criminal office. It was the attempt by DWS to paint something green that wasn't green. Unfortunately, and from [indiscernible] this was actively supported by WWF Germany, which lost its moral compass in this regard and not only in this regard. DWS understandably wants to leave this matter behind and that is good. However, the question is whether DWS does not consider it necessary any longer to pretend it's left this behind. In fact, greenwashing is only a big gap between the marketed reality and actual reality. But DWS has allegedly changed. The gap has become smaller. But the question is, has the marketed reality simply been adjusted to actual reality? Does DWS simply push away any social responsibility? Mr. Hoops, you have changed the wording of your speech, but I will quote from the speech that had been pre-published and this is quite similar. DWS, you said in the pre-public speech did not make any -- did not instruct any clients on what investment strategy to follow and we will not do in the future either. We follow sustainability-based approaches. But at the end of the day, it is our clients that decide whether and to what extent ecological, social and governance aspects are taken into account in the investments they make. This means that you are shying away from your own responsibility. This means, you're shying away from environmental protection from possibilities you would normally have. Do you seriously believe that clients can invest in anything you offer, chocolate from child labor, other products and funds using, for example, and weapons? Let me take one step back and ask a couple of questions. The greenwashing allegations based by Desiree Fixler, which also led to several fines were actually plausible. At the end of the day, I'm not quite clear yet as to why Ms. Fixler chose to go down that avenue, because she seems to have a very dubious view of the climate crisis. It is not possible for me to find out more about her real motives, but I've got a couple of questions in this respect. When and please tell me the exact date. Did Ms. Fixler turn to the supervisors to initiate an internal investigation? Please also tell me when the investigation started regarding the fund? Please tell me the exact date? Who was involved in designing this fund? Were there any overlaps between persons involved in the greenwashing, persons in the team that had designed the fund, please tell -- please you don't have to give us the names of the persons, the individuals affected, but please tell us more about the degree of overlap. I'm trying to understand whether the DWS Blue Economy Fund was just a cooperation with WWF in order to prevent potential future greenwashing allegations. Was that why WWF was taken on board? This cooperation with WWF, but how much were the royalties paid to WWF by DWS in this framework? If you don't want to give us a number, please tell us about the size of the fund for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. I would also like to ask you to disclose the income from this fund for DWS for each of the 4 years. The fees for the funds according to the website were 7.71% as at 31st of December 2024. It would be interesting to understand how much profits you have gained from these fees. So fees minus costs, and if you can't give us that number, it would be good to know what the average profit per fund is in DWS. So what is the average per fund -- average profit per fund? I've got another question. Given that the fund we're referring to was continued after cooperation with WWF was terminated. Please tell us more about this from what we know, this separation was unanimous, but what caused this separation from WWF? And a final question regarding the Blue Economy Fund, our former employees, including Ashok Verma and taking into account for potential recourse payments. This is the end of my list of questions regarding this block of issues. Apart from the financial framework for this fund, I'd also like to hear from you why DWS chose to cooperate with WWF in the first place? Was the sustainability driven in the fund itself, the Blue Economy Fund? At the end of the day, it was a pilot project. Originally, it had been communicated with WWF Germany that the Blue Economy finance principles were going to be scaled up to include other funds, perhaps the entire portfolio of funds. But from what I know, this failed to materialize. However, this rolling all the requirements over to clients, closing the funds and basically doing the opposite of what you promised. In terms of why you were going to work with WWF because allegedly you want to turn greener as an asset management. I mean, all of this is a thing of the past now. You're miles away from that. So please, what are the measures that DWS has already taken due to cooperation with WWF that have made DWS any more sustainable, the more the better. And I'm not talking about strategies or declarations of intent, but actual results in terms of how you invest your clients' monies? Nice statements such as those that you can read in the press or Turkish speaker or these bloom marine-related statements is not what I want to hear. You are -- according to your statement, you will not instruct clients on how to invest their money. Are you planning to uphold that principle? I would also like to know how you are going to make sure internally that this is actually lived out in actual practice? Now regarding the clients, as already said, the minimum sustainability standards -- but are they to be uphold? Or are they no longer going to apply? Is that why the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment are going to be given up? What about other ESG principles? Are you going to bend them then? Are you going to follow the principles that have been published regardless of the initiatives that DWS is contributing to? The fundamental principle seems to be you're going back to CSR, corporate and social responsibility. You're going back to basically trainings that are completely worthless, or procurement focusing on office chairs and computers rather than focusing on your core business. And this also fits in with your donations to WWF Germany, at least you're trying to buy your way towards good conscious. Over the past few years, how many donations have you made? This is actually going to be continued as far as I know. So projects that would potentially lead to a transformation of your business have all been discontinued, but you continue making donations to WWF. A few questions by way of conclusion regarding politics. I will conclude on my WWF related questions. The next two questions will deal with the bigger picture. On the 3rd of May, we had the Overload Day -- World Overload Day. So financial institutes and DWS have rightfully referred to political decision-makers accountability. DWS can't be held responsible nor can any other banks be held responsible for doing what policymakers should be doing or what the economy should be doing. But at the same time, as you can see, for example, in terms of the German supply chain Act that DWS and the likes are lobbying various parties along their own interest. So I've got a couple of questions regarding political processes, and this then takes me to the end of my questions. Are you supporting the principles of the Green Deal as a matter of principle? Are you supporting the attempt of the Green Deal to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability rather than exclusively focusing on climate issues? At the end of the day, the protection of the biosphere and the climate are closely interrelated. Do you support the sustainability reporting obligations, the European risk reporting -- sustainability reporting standards that have already been adopted, but are not yet carried out in actual practice. In answering this question, please also take into account that there's about 4,000 data points if you want to respond to these requirements whereby the ESG-related data point only account for about 1,000 because here, we have human rights, microplastics, biodiversity and other issues that are also reflected in these data points. I'm sure you will be able to confirm that the costs are quite low.

Mr. Diaz, if you would also leave some time for your colleagues to ask questions. You've now spoken about 13 minutes. And as you announced perhaps it would be good if you could come to the end of your presentation and leave some time for your colleagues. Thank you.

Yes. One more minute, please. The bureaucracy cost index drops in 2012 rather than increase and listed companies and financial institutes normally do not even show and disclose the cost of this reporting separately. I would also like to hear more about your view regarding the value chain cap for the standard that's already been presented. Do you consider the standards to be relevant or does it mean that data, including ESG data cannot be disclosed? My last question. What is your view regarding the duty of diligence under the Supply Chain Act? As already said, this does not only relate to office chairs, even though, of course, the German CBI that is the PSI focuses on that. Would you say it's got an impact on the real economy in Germany. So much for my questions, I would stop here, maybe just a quick comment regarding bureaucracy. It's quite interesting to say where we stand in terms of bureaucracy and overregulation. Thank you very much. These were my questions. I will come to the end. Thank you very much for your attention. I'm looking forward to your answers.

Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Diaz. Next -- we have the next speaker. We will come back to the many questions you've asked in a moment. The next speaker is Julia Dubslaff. And I would also like to ask Federico Potts and Markus Dufner to keep ready, because they will be going next. Thank you very much. Julia Dubslaff from [indiscernible] floor is all yours.

Thank you very much, Mr. Behrens. Mr. Behrens, Mr. Hoops, members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, dear federal shareholders, once again, we have run the meeting virtually. My name is Julia Dubslaff, I speak here on behalf of critical shareholders. But in my main job, I'm employed at the Environmental Association Urgewald, which probably DWS is fully aware of. Now with the publication of the carbon policy about 2 years ago, namely in April 2023, DWS actually did take a decisive step to take action against climate change. Another positive example is that in 2023, you taking current ESG data into account, you sold the San Miguel stock holdings because it wanted to massively extend its carbon facilities on the Philippines. Another positive aspect last year, at this point, you announced that you are thinking about an oil and gas policy. At least you're thinking and discussing about it. Dear, Mr. Hoops, against the backdrop of our activities of Urgewald, your address this morning was actually shocking to me. Climate change is real. I think this is something we agree on. But you do not meet your fiduciary obligations because you only do so by offering some dark green products for the niche. You call them the times have changed in terms of customer expectations, but apart from that, you would rather serve conventional objectives. Now what is actually your understanding of DWS and the fight against climate change? That is my first and also my most important question actually. Now your address, Mr. Hoops to me, does not really sound like a relevant contribution to climate change. You rather want to use AI and blockchain. However, you are thus certainly lagging behind other German investors, which have already published exclusive criteria for oil and gas. So when will you finally also exclude oil and gas from your portfolio? Did DWS make any progress in regard of such a policy? Now are you also talking about the expansion of oil and gas production to be used as a criterion for -- in your risk assessment? Does DWS intend to purchase new bonds to be issued by expanding oil and gas companies? Or are you going to exclude such purchases in terms of the coal policy? After 2 years of your coal policy, what's the track record? Are you aware of any expansions of coal companies? And are you going to exclude them? Are there any plans to lower your threshold of 25%, which is fairly high already before 2030? In 2024, you may remember, there was a discussion about the so-called generational capital. DWS in this context called for a greater -- higher priority of sustainable investment. What actually what does that meant to be? Climate change is real, Mr. Hoops, as you said in your address. And I think everybody is going to agree with you. However, what's also real are allegations of serious human right violation, environmental damage, for example, in the Parker LNG, Mozambique LNG and the Eco Pipeline in the LNG business, which are massively pushed by Exxon Energy. DWS has been massively invested in TotalEnergies and also ExxonMobil. With TotalEnergies, actually DWS is even the biggest German investor. For this reason, DWS here has a special responsibility in this regard. Mr. Hoops, which of the allegations on human right violations and environmental damage in connection with the three projects, I mentioned as examples, are you familiar with? How can you make sure that such allegations are also known to your fund managers? Such findings, how do they impact the risk assessment of DWS for TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil? Does DWS consider these projects as sustainability or reputational risk? Which actions has DWS taken in order to call upon TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil to fully resolve these allegations and eliminate such situations? Will DWS support the request of Union Investment to initiate an independent investigation of the human rights situation? Will DWS also place this request towards TotalEnergies? Dear, Mr. Hoops, last year, at this point, you said that as part of your net zero ambitions, reducing emissions in the real economy is also one of your focal points. Now selling shares in your view means that you cannot exercise any influence on companies anymore. Now we've had numerous discussions on this. Now which evidence does DWS have that your engagement has resulted in a reduction of emissions? What is the view as part of the Climate Action 100+ Association regarding the energy utilities? Now in 2024, what was the highest escalation level during an engagement process with the company? Dear, Mr. Hoops, now I, myself, I asked you last year at this very point about your engagement with ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil does not even try on paper to give the impression of taking climate objectives seriously. Now they've got no scope. You've got no Scope 3 emissions and thus, you fully disregard the biggest Scope 0 emissions. Now in 2024, did you discuss the insufficient Scope 0 targets with that company with Exxon? What is your view of the climate-related efforts of ExxonMobil? When will you finally see a success in your engagement with that company? Do you feel that Exxon is subject to our transitional risk? If so, what is the specific aspect of that risk? And how high is the risk? Does DWS maybe consider excluding ExxonMobil from its investments like a competitor has recently done? Mr. Hoops, Mr. Behrens, I'm already finished. Now we at Urgewald, we mainly focus coal, oil and gas companies. Well, of course, my questions are indicative of -- most companies which we have on our global coal exit list and a global exit list. I think you are familiar with both of these. Now most of these companies are currently expanding and do not have any credible transformation strategy. And what I've heard from you today, Mr. Hoops, I cannot see any credible transformation strategy of DWS in terms of carbonization either. You just follow the current anti-ESG trend rather sending out a clear signal to these juggernauts that you're really serious about climate protection. Dear shareholders, please send out a clear signal to Mr. Hoops and DWS by not ratifying the acts of management of the management, because we need real action in climate protection and not just further develop sustainability strategies. Thanks for listening.

Thanks, Ms. Dubslaff for your statement. We will provide the answers later on. So right now, we just have two more speakers in waiting room and no more shareholders in the pipeline. So we will now take first Ms. Federico Potts, also after [indiscernible] and she is going to be followed by Markus Dufner, who also speaks on behalf of the same Shareholder Association. So we have Ms. Potts first and Mr. Dufner is asked to get ready. Ms. Potts, welcome to you.

Thank you very much. Dear shareholders, dear members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. My name is Federico Potts. I'm Managing Director of the Association of Finance Association. And I'm speaking today on behalf of [indiscernible] who signed their speaking rights to me. I'm going to tackle two matters today. On the one hand, gender, justice and equality and your investments in arms and defense companies, because gender quality is not just a soft topic which you can discuss when you feel you've got the time. It's a rather hard indicator for entrepreneurial responsibility, long-term success and stability. Studies have shown that companies with a high gender diversity, especially in leadership positions are more successful, more innovative and better in identifying and managing risks. And therefore, let me praise you because since last year, DWS has been supporting proposals that want companies which they invest in, take action to reduce risks for people and the environment. Furthermore, such companies must commit themselves to zero tolerance towards harassment at the workplace and gender inequality. So that is something which is highly welcome. What is less pleasing, however, in our view, is the fact that DWS and its investment decisions obviously does not have any clear requirements in terms of equality at companies. Thus, gender sensitive, zero tolerance policy towards discrimination and employment and job would be required. But DWS does not take this into account, nor does it pay attention to equal pay for different genders. And the UN Women's Empowerment Principles of United Nations are not being supported by DWS either. So therefore, my question is, why does DWS not ask the company which invest in to take active action for equal pay and to fight gender-based discrimination? And why does DWS not support the women's empowerment principles? Does DWS intend to change this in the future? And if so, by when? And if not, why not? And furthermore, how does DWS internally make sure that all genders receive the same pay for the same work? And are there any transparent reports and objectives on that matter? In the last few years, DWS has made progress in terms of gender diversity in the portfolio companies, whereas in the past, no expectations had been stated. But now at least, at least for Germany and for Europe and North America, 30% women's share in Supervisory Board is expected, and has also taken respective action against individual candidacies, which we welcome very much. However, this claim and the vision only applies to a certain part of the world, whereas in Asia and other countries also in Japan, such action is not that severe. So applying an international standard does not exist yet, nor the transparency on actual progress made. Therefore, my question here is, why do the expectations for gender diversity in portfolio companies only in different regions of the world? Does DWS plan to change its requirements towards a global standard? And if so -- if not, why not? And how do you make sure that gender diversification is not just the lip service on paper, but it's actually implied in real life and in real work? And so far, DWS, it seems does not have any clear requirements for portfolio of companies were complying with gender equality and justice to women is also required towards sub-suppliers, because exploitation and violence towards women often occurs in the upstream areas of the supply chains, for example, in the textile or commodities sector. Why has DWS so far, not stated any requirements for companies also along their supply chain to ensure the protection of women's rights across the entire value chain. Does DWS plan to change this approach, if not, why not? Now defense companies. DWS has stated that Article 8 managed funds, which have ESG or similar phrases in the name and the DWS standard filters apply, and those that apply to DWS basically exclusion filters that are acceptable. Now which funds use the DWS investment standards filter, which continues to exclude defense? And how many of the Article 8 funds are using the DWS basic exclusion filter where there is -- the defense exclusion has been removed? And how much money has been maintained in Alternatives funds, which are allowed to invest in defense? And how much resources are in funds where such investments are excluded? DWS has also stated that investment in manufacturers of controversial weapons according to international conventions such as cluster bombs, chemical and biological bombs, is excluded in funds with the DWS basically exclusion filters. Is this a conclusive list? Or are there other controversial weapons which are excluded? Have manufacturers of blinding laser weapons being excluded, and are manufacturers of white phosphorus excluded as well? After the recent adjustments, funds with the DWS basic exclusion filters cannot only invest in conventional weapons, but also in nuclear weapons and in weapons of depleted uranium. Now why did DWS now decide to invest in these controversial weapons? What has changed for DWS now to assess manufacturers of depleted uranium in a different manner? Now the decision to add companies into DWS basic exclusion filters. Did you carry out a survey amongst clients before you did so? Does DWS believe that the majority in this DWS funds is satisfied with the change of direction? What was the response of investors and clients to this change of direction? And if so, what was the response? What is the role of the financial performance of defense shares since 2022? And what was the influence on the decision to exclude us from the exclusion filter? And to what extent was the underperformance fear relevant here? So far, DWS does not have any criteria against exports in regions violating human rights. However, European defense companies not only sell to Western countries, but also to countries in Yemen, Gaza, or [indiscernible]. Therefore, companies supporting violent action that goes against international standards can foster conflicts and violence in such regions. Therefore, my question is, does DWS intend to exclude investments in companies that support wars and violent activities in such regions. Does DWS also intend to exclude investments in companies which are involved in regions and companies which are subject to corruption allegations, which include HENSOLDT, General Dynamics, and others. DWS also says that it needs to support the armies of democratic countries. Is DWS aware of publicly listed companies which produce arms only for democratic regions and do not supply any arms to regions where war is waged against the population? And my last question, does DWS plan to influence companies not to deliver arms to regions where human rights are violated. And does DWS intend to exclude such companies from their funds activities? And if not, why not?

Thank you very much, Ms. Potts, for that [indiscernible] of questions. Later on, we'll provide the answers. We've got now one more speaker in the waiting room, which is Mr. Markus Dufner, also speaking on behalf of the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre. Mr. Dufner, you've got the floor. And if you, ladies and gentlemen, have further request to speak, then please register on the portal. At the moment, Mr. Dufner is the last speaker. And maybe after that, we can already start providing answers. Mr. Dufner, you've got the floor.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Behrens. Dr. Hoops, Mr. Behrens, members of the management, shareholders, my name is Markus Dufner. I'm the Managing Director of the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, and we have 30 member organizations involved in the climate and environmental protection and human rights, and we represent part of civil society in that regard. We also have the Klima-Allianz Deutschland with 155 membership organizations among our ranks. Ladies and gentlemen, together with [indiscernible] finance, we have released a press release for this AGM, where we address the empty promises of DWS regarding ESG. And now my colleagues and I have listened to the addresses by DWS. And my previous speakers have also justified their criticism. Now Mr. Hoops, I heard in your address that you believe that the internal construction sites and problems in DWS not only want to be finished quickly, but also quietly. So does that mean that you're not going to say anything about that at all? That ought to be different. That ought to be dealt with differently. This should become part of your DNA, namely that errors that have been made in the past in conjunction with greenwashing are not repeated. So go beyond that. Don't just finish that chapter without any word on it. Mr. Hoops, now I would like to ask you a question about the economy. So how can the EU increase its competitiveness and bolster itself against shocks. And our possible answer would be, well, with 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. That's not what climate activists are requiring, but 150 European companies and investors in an open letter to the EU, in this sign-on letter on the EU to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least 90% by 2040. Now in this letter to the EU Commission and to the delegates of the EU Parliament and to the heads of state of the member states of the EU, these entrepreneurs and investors say that we need a robust climate goal for decarbonization of our economies to make the EU more robust against shocks and to improve competitiveness in the EU. Now regarding the signatories of the letter, we have SAP, the Otto Group and Allianz, amongst others. Dr. Hoops, why is DWS not one of the signatories of this letter? Now can you envisage that you may indeed become a signatory? And if not, why? Now asset managers design the world in which we live by investing in the companies that they invest in. Now an investigation by ShareAction showed that most of the biggest players on the market do not invest in a responsible way and continue to pursue a path towards fossil fuels, loss of nature and the expansion of controversial weapons. As middlemen in the financial sector, your irresponsible investments are carried out almost exclusively with the money of other people. And under the title, Point of No Returns 2025, ShareAction published a ranking of the biggest asset managers in the world. DWS is not right at the bottom, but also not right at the top. It's at rank 18. And this was looking at issues of climate, biodiversity, social governance and stewardship. So also a question of assuming responsibility. With regard to biodiversity, DWS was in the red area; and climate, orange. So bad or not very good. Dr. Hoops, what are you going to do to make sure that DWS will soon have better results in this regard? That brings me to the counterproposals of the Dachverband on agenda Item 3. DWS failed to take control in a responsible way and adequate way of the greenwashing affair. That is why we will not ratify the acts of the management of the general partner for fiscal year 2024. Despite repeated public criticism, DWS made ESG pledges that did not equate with reality at an early stage, and without external investigation, DWS also have put an end to that. However, it first took the investigations of the public prosecutor's office to put an end to this. The rating, Morningstar and its apparent rating on DWS is interesting. And as such, a questionable and instable management led to the problems at DWS. The previous CEO, who had initiated the ESG investments, left in 2022. Due to that, his successor, Stefan Hoops, is the fifth CEO in 10 years, which underscores the instability within the management of the company. This nomination also shows the permanent influence of the parent company even after the IPO of 2018. Hoops has spent most of his career at Deutsche Bank, but does not have a background in asset management. Ultimately, Morningstar reaches the conclusion that DWS needs to be monitored carefully to avoid further issues. My question in this regard would be what has been the result of these discussions with Morningstar? What did you respond to with this not particularly good rating? And what remedial actions will you take, Dr. Hoops, Mr. Behrens? That brings me now to agenda Item 4 regarding the active management of the members of the Supervisory Board. We also shall not ratify these acts. The Supervisory Board has a central role in the strategic positioning of the company and for the monitoring of the Executive Board, in particular, looking at risks, sustainability and long-term corporate goals. In this function, the Supervisory Board failed to fulfill its requirements adequately, particularly with regard to the insufficient climate strategy of DWS and the fact that there are so many funds still involved in fossil fuels. Mr. Behrens, because you have only been the Chairman of the Supervisory Board for 1 year, this is perhaps less to do with you and more to do with your predecessor, Karl von Rohr. Now in your address before, you underscored the wonderful transition from Mr. Rohr to you and the transfer. Perhaps you can explain in more detail in which regard you wish to give this seal of approval. In which regard did Mr. Rohr talk about these sustainable investments? What changes will you make, if any? How does it feel for you that your predecessor, Mr. von Rohr, is now a simple member of the Supervisory Board and is now accompanying your work and perhaps is also having a slightly critical eye on you. Do you feel safe in that environment? And finally, the counterproposal against agenda Item 11. The Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen does not agree with the resolution on an amendment to Section 21 of the Articles of Association to further facilitate virtual general meetings and the authorization of the Management Board. And after several years of experience of virtual AGMs, we still have the same opinion, the format and the way in which such AGMs are carried out affect elementary rights of shareholders. And therefore, the AGM should be making this decision and not the Management Board or the Supervisory Board. It should be up to the AGM to decide in which format future AGMs are carried out. The AGM should be given the opportunity to decide as to whether a further option would be a hybrid format, which would marry up the advantages of an in-person event with a digital event. My question to you, Mr. Behrens, Mr. Hoops would be, will the DWS provide for an in-person AGM next year or perhaps even a hybrid AGM? And what about the years up to 2030? Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Dufner. I can see now that we have -- and we will, of course, respond to your questions, Mr. Dufner. I see that Ms. Julia Dubslaff has a further request to speak. Please, you can take the floor, Ms. Dubslaff.

Thank you, Mr. Behrens. You asked me to be as brief as possible, and I wanted to adhere to that. But because there is no one else on the speakers' list, seemingly, I have a few last questions, just 2 or 3 minutes. Thank you. Now one of my previous speakers has already addressed this briefly. A few days ago, it became clear that Munich Re has stepped back from a number of climate initiatives. That is a fatal signal. How will DWS deal with this in their memberships of these initiatives? What position does the DWS represent in the repositioning of the net zero asset manager initiative after BlackRock and others have left it? And what will be the effect of the repositioning of the reduction goals of DWS. Moreover, I'd just like to briefly allude to the SFDR EU Regulation, the Disclosure Regulation there. In a DWS press release regarding the consultation on the state of affairs of this, I read in a small excel sheet that the SFDR is considered by DWS as a labeling and marketing tool. Now that makes me feel that -- well, DWS only has 70 funds according to Article 6 and considerably more according to Article 8. So labeling and marketing tool. What is the justification for this? How many funds did DWS have at the time and how many were renamed at the time of the other regulation being introduced. How many of these renamed funds are directly managed by DWS? What reasons were there for the renaming of these funds? Ms. Potts asked similar questions. Will any other investments in coal, oil and gas companies be maintained? How many funds with sustainability, environmental or impact names are still directly managed by DWS, and how many assets are managed there currently? So that's 2.5 minutes. That was it for me. Thank you. And of course, I'm very much looking forward to your responses to my questions.

Excellent. Thank you, Ms. Dubslaff. Then I would begin with the first answers. Perhaps just by way of introduction, thank you very much to all of you for your commitment and your questions, particularly to those known faces, Ms. Dubslaff, Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Schäfer. Thank you also for drawing this balance that you've had, where you do provide praise for the progress that we've made, but also provide constructive criticism on those things you think where we could do better. We do respect that very much indeed. In the interest of the shareholders, I will try to group things thematically. So I'm not going to go through the people A, B C, but rather will try and deal with things in thematic blocks. I'll start with the business issues. Perhaps just as a piece of information, Mr. Schmidt -- Mr. Schäfer, thank you for the questions, some of which were impulsive, as you said yourselves. So please understand that we can't exhaustively respond to every single question, because some of these things are due to our daily business. And we don't know what the world is going to look like in 2030. I will start with our most important area, Active business. Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the risk of a too strong orientation towards actives with over 70% share of our overall revenues at DWS, and that is where we have our greatest revenues. And you asked about our orientation and our positioning, particularly looking at bonds, and we have our multi-asset solutions, and we intend to increase this. At the same time, we are going to focus on strategic growth initiatives to make our business model more diversified and fit for the future. With Alternatives and Passives and Active ETFs, we do see further market potential there. Moreover, we are investing in digital trends. For example, asset management as an integrated service as well as in digital assets. With this allocation of resources, we want to ensure that we can expand our business beyond the Active segment and that we are also positioned in future-proof growth areas. Then there was a whole host of questions about our phenomenal Xtrackers business, Passive products there. And I would like to start there with you, Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the development of our Passives and the stability in the price fluctuations and the earnings contribution and also the effect on the CIR there. Now regarding the proportion of Passives in new business, the proportion of Passives in new business has increased significantly in recent years. In 2024, the net inflows from Passives, including Xtrackers, we were talking about EUR 41.8 billion and thus over 100% of our overall net inflows. Also in the first quarter of 2025, we have been able to see this positive trend increasing. Regarding the question of stability, neither for Passive nor actively managed products, do we have a generally applicable correlation between net outflows and decreasing prices on the share markets. Passive products are considered to be stable. But of course, we can also see outflows there with strong fluctuations. DWS with its ETF brand Xtrackers profits from its broadly diversified product mix, which also offers customers the correct product in volatile market phases. Regarding the question of margin development, the average management fee margin was in 2024 at 16 basis points, and that was in comparison to 26% from the previous year, and that increased to EUR 472 million. We're currently assuming an increase of the management fee for Passives in the years to come as well. This increase could be driven by a greater amount of assets under management, whilst we could also see a compensatory effect for further decreasing margins. Now regarding your questions about the CIR, we can't provide a CIR for individual asset classes because the cost management is carried out on the general level at DWS. In Passives, we expect positive economies of scale. So we look at the marginal CIR there. Please understand the fact that we can't comment on hypothetical situations. Overall, we expect that the proportion of Passives will continue to increase in the future. Also looking at Alternatives, we see long-term growth potential and moreover, want to further reinforce our Active business. With further cost management and further growth, we expect that our CIR will continue to improve in the future. Mr. Schmidt, this is slightly linked to the question that I just responded to. You were asking about all new investments in the Passives. Please understand, as I've already said, if we can't comment on any hypothetical model calculations. Overall, we expect that the amount of Passives will increase in our assets under management, but also we do think that Alternatives will provide further growth potential as well. And we will, of course, continue to be very disciplined in our cost management. So we think that this will also have a positive effect on our CIR. You then asked a constructively critical question as to whether it's a good idea to focus on the CIR if the amount of new Passives continues to increase. You also wanted to know what our priority is in management, whether it's the CIR or the lower margin revenue. Now please understand if we can't comment on any hypothetical model calculations. Overall, we expect that the amount of Passives in the assets under management will continue to increase in the future. And as I've already alluded to, we think that there are further positive perspectives for the Active business and Alternatives in the future. We pursue 2 financial goals, so the earnings per share and the cost-income ratio. The earnings per share has the highest priority. That is the contribution that we can feed back to our shareholders. The CIR is a very important steering tool, in particular, to be able to ensure that if there is a loss in earnings, we can still remain profitable. Every earning that is profitable and that can help with our earnings per share is a focus of management. You then, Mr. Schmidt, asked a question about private debt, and you commented on that as well. You asked us to elucidate our approach to private debt and the volume that we currently manage, our expectations and our control mechanisms, particularly with regard to our cooperation with Deutsche Bank. Now on a global level, DWS manages over EUR 15 billion in structured and private credit. This includes structured loans and real estate credit. Deutsche Bank and DWS have already been working together in origination of credit to medium-sized cooperations in Europe since 2018, and we intend to further pursue this in the future. And that will be in specific areas where we will have preferred access to asset-based finance, direct lending or other credit origination, which is issued by Deutsche Bank. Regarding portfolio management of the respective DWS funds is still left free. That's the relevant point. They can decide freely as to whether they want to be involved in that. So we as the fiduciaries are able to decide there. In any case, with every transaction, we will have an established monitoring process. The entire fiduciary responsibility, including management, remains with DWS exclusively. Then, Mr. Schaffer, you asked generally about growth perspectives, and we would like to just respond to that. Of course, we are very committed to increasing and realizing our growth potential in Passives and Alternatives, and we see great perspectives there. We also want to reinforce our very leading role in established markets, particularly in shares and bonds. You also asked, to what extent we are affected by the increased protectionism. You also asked about U.S. policies and the effect thereof on our business. We believe that protectionist tendencies offer opportunities as well as pose risks. For example, the amended debt policy in Europe has made Europe more attractive to investors abroad. As I've already said in my address, we see great potential in our leading position as DWS to be positioned as a gateway to Europe. This repositioning of U.S. policy has not changed anything about our commitment and our belief that we have to be global. Thus, we maintain our position that we want to grow in China and India. Nevertheless, of course, we are continuously keeping an eye on global developments and take that into account in all of our strategy decisions. Moreover, you also asked about our structures in the Far East. And I already alluded to this in my address. We're talking about markets with increasing wealth, and that means that we want to further anchor our presence there. In China, we can build upon our investment in Harvest Fund. We have been involved in that with 30% for many years, and this provides reliable value. And we have already stated our intention to expand in China. India is a very interesting developing market for asset management, and we are pursuing our goals for strategic partnerships there. And of course, in Japan, in addition to our general organic business with Nippon Life, we have continued this for further 5 years in 2023. Now as a segue here, Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the strategic positioning of our business between internalization and a further even stronger focus on the German market. Now Germany is our domestic market clearly. Our positioning here is our key success factor and it's also the foundation for our sustainable success in the future. We are also, however, represented in international markets. As I've already alluded to previously, we want to grow in the Asia Pacific region to benefit from the market potentials there and to also further pursue our geographical diversification. We believe that there are opportunities in the digital business, be it in digital coverage or digital assets, and we are looking at these independently of the regional strategy. And of course, we bear in mind all of the regionally deviating and differentiating regulatory requirements there. We, of course, welcome the reform for the pension schemes in Germany and also see that there are relevant areas of action for us as asset managers. So for example, privately organized deposit accounts, as has been set out in the coalition government agreement, which provides increased flexibility and attractiveness for private pension schemes. Mr. Schäfer, you asked about our long-term AI and digitalization strategy and what we see as the major risks and opportunities. The topics, digitalization and artificial intelligence have a continuous influence on the adjustment and further development of our strategic initiatives. We have a number of potential AI applications that we've identified, and we see the largest potential in the application of AI to process optimization. We see further potential in possible efficiency increases and risk reduction across the entire value chain. We've identified a number of risks, which include algorithmic distortions and discrimination, hallucinations or lack of transparency and traceability with AI-supported decisions. Topics, AI and digitization are under constant development. So we focus on enabling and training our staff accordingly in order to make full use of the potential of those topics in competition. Then there were a number of questions which were not of a business nature, but specifically addressed the topic of non-sustainability. And Mr. Schmidt, with a view to the takeover offers for STADA at the time in 2017, and the ruling of the German Federal Court in '23, you asked whether DWS filed additional payment claims and you wanted to know what the inventory of STADA shares was in the funds affected and whether any claims were asserted and if you want to do so retroactively. And if not, you're asking for the reasons for why so far or in the future, we did not and do not plan to do so. Now the Federal Court's ruling from 2023 on the STADA takeover offer in 2017 is something we're aware of, obviously. So generally, we do follow the German market, so we are aware of it. DWS funds accepted the takeover offer for about 740,000 shares in 2017. So the theoretical claim to additional payments amounts to a total of maximum EUR 6 million. We're currently still looking into asserting such claims for the affected DWS funds. And our review includes, amongst others, weighing the risk of process and procedural and litigation costs to the funds with the prospects of success when asserting the claims, because you were asking for the reasons for why or why not to take the corresponding steps. And we think we can assert our claims until the end of '26. Mr. Schäfer, you asked for the reasons for the repositioning of the DWS Invest ESG Women for Women funds and the renaming into DWS Invest ESG Social Focus. DWS regularly reviews their products in terms of development, net inflows and investment policy. And in this context, the social factor was adjusted as part of the investment guidelines. And in order to reflect that, the name of the fund was changed accordingly, which also allows us to approach a larger group of investors. Investors were informed about that change in March 2025 by written notification. Mr. Schäfer, you are making reference to press coverage, and we're asking whether after the end of the ESG-related investigations in the U.S. and in Germany, there are other supervisory investigations to do with DWS in the field of sustainability, and whether we need to be afraid of another greenwashing 2.0 affair. Now we ask you to understand that we will neither comment on the opinions voiced by individual employees, nor the special audits covered by the press. However, we have no indication at the moment that your concerns might have any substance. And also, Mr. Schäfer, you asked for how many compliance relevant reports and notices we had in the 2024 financial year and so far in the '25 financial year, and which ways of filing those reports were used, and whether based on those reports, actual violations of legal requirements or policies were identified. And you also asked for the number of investigations going on in the current financial year. Now with our whistleblower system, we make sure that there can be an effective and anonymous reporting of potential misgivings and nonbeneficial situations at any time. The reports received are reviewed by a specialized team in a timely manner and our process to ensure that they are reviewed accordingly. In the '24 financial year, this whistleblower system resulted in 31 such reports. So far, no violations of legal requirements were identified. In 2 cases, we identified violations of internal guidelines that were addressed. Over the first 5 months of the current financial year, we've so far registered 14 reports, which also are being addressed in keeping with our internal processes. And we ask you to understand that we cannot comment on any specific measures and reports. And also, we respectfully refer you to the explanations given on Pages 121 and 124 of our annual report 2024. I am now going to answer the first questions asked by the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre from DWS. Let me start with one contribution. Mr. Diaz asked whether we offer everything to our customers. And I just want to make sure that, obviously, we don't just offer everything and anything. So customers can just tell us, this is what I want to invest in and we automatically offer it. I think the way to see it is that we offer a range of products, a wide range of products, green but also conventional investments. And then our customers decide what of that they want to choose. Mr. Dufner said that we are investing other people's money, and that is true. So these people have to decide what they want. And if somebody tells us, I want a higher pension share and therefore, more conventional investment; or I'm ready to accept a lower return, but I strictly only want that type of investment, then it's those clients' decision. It's not something we can do for them. So with all due respect, it would be misgiven and mistaken if we were to force our view of things on our customers. So let me repeat, we don't offer everything. But as part of our wide product range, we are obliged to have our customers decide themselves what happens to their money, and that is what we stand for. Now with that, I'd like to answer some of your questions, Ms. Dubslaff. And I don't think we've been in conflict in recent years. We've been discussing controversially, but productively. You asked for our conclusion regarding the implementation of our coal policy and reactions of coal companies, and whether we plan to reduce the threshold of 25% before 2030. Now the implementation of the coal policy over the past 2 years led to a reduction of our investment into coal companies. And this is due in particular to the adjustment of the investment limits in products managed by DWS. So far, we have had no reactions from expanding coal companies that were affected by that exclusion. A reduction of the 25% sales or revenue threshold is not planned for the time being, but we do regularly review our coal policy, especially when it comes to regulatory developments and market standards. And Ms. Dubslaff, you went on to ask up until when we would take oil and gas companies out of our portfolios, exclude them, and whether we have made any progress. Now as an asset manager, we are always orienting ourselves along the investment targets and guidelines of our customers. Our customer groups can have different investment targets, which do include sustainability targets, but can also just be aimed at financial performance. In order to do justice to the many sustainability requirements of our customers, our European-based products are designed differently in keeping with Section 8 of the Disclosure Regulation. Products that have names, including ESG or sustainability-related terms fulfill the requirements of the ESMA guidelines, including a binding exclusion for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Products which are reported according to Section 8 of the Disclosure Regulation, but do not have those terms in their name also underline certain exclusion criteria. For example, when it comes to oil, sand, or our DWS coal policy. Also, we aim at a constructive dialogue with oil and gas companies as well as with companies who drive the demand for oil and gas. At the moment, we do not plan any additional oil and gas policy which would go beyond the approaches and activities already implemented today. You were also asking whether the expansion or extension of oil and gas production is a criterion for risk assessment. The extension of oil and gas production can, to the extent it is material to a company's activity, be a factor in our risk assessment of such a company and can be addressed as part of our stewardship activities in a dialogue with our portfolio companies. Also, this matter, if it's material, can be taken into account in the active investment business in the various steps of the respective investment process, such as in the analysis of fundamentals of the issuers and portfolio management. You also asked whether we are considering to exclude the purchase of newly issued bonds of expanding oil and gas companies. And I can confirm that at the current point in time, we have no such considerations. Also, Ms. Dubslaff, you asked for proof as to whether this has led our engagement and this has led to a reduction in emissions. Generally, it is difficult to trace back the progress of a specific commitment to one single investor, because there are many other factors that can influence such changes. More information on our investments, you will find in our stewardship report 2024 and on our website, where we have investment letters, or engagement letters rather, catalogs of questions, and also speeches held at AGMs. And next, you, Mr. Diaz, asked for the results of our cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund and what effect that has on us. One aspect of the cooperation with WWF on the topic of biodiversity was to further develop our capacities and expertise in the field of biodiversity and nature-related topics. Based on the findings from that cooperation, we, for instance, have further developed our approaches when it comes to dealing with nature-related risks and opportunities to do with water and deforestation in connection with our stewardship activities. And you then asked more specifically regarding our cooperation with WWF, what it gave us or how we benefited from it in terms of sustainability and I just formally refer you to the answer I just gave. So Chairman, those are all of the answers I have in front of me right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Stefan. As the Chairman, I continue. I've got one question asked by you, Mr. Philippe Diaz, also to do with the World Wildlife Funds. Other employees, [indiscernible], do you take them -- are you going to hold them liable? And is there a policy that covers this? Mr. Diaz, you asked for potential claims for damages against further employees or members of the Board of DWS. Generally, we can say that we, of course, fulfill all auditory duties to do with claims for damages, but please bear with us that we cannot comment on that any further. I have a question asked by Mr. Wolfgang Schäfer. You said, according to the qualification matrix of the Supervisory Board, you all covered the various fields, corporate social responsibility and other fields and have basic knowledge about all of those, but in your majority, no enhanced expertise on those areas. Now the statements made there, is that the result of the self-assessment of the respective members? Or were those bits of information provided and tested by an external third party or by an internal body and suggested to the respective Supervisory Board member. Does that apply to all fields of competence or depending on the area of competence, are there differences? Mr. Schäfer, you were asking whether the qualification matrix is based on the self-assessment of the Supervisory Board members or was reviewed by the company or an external third party. As described on Page 257 of our 2024 annual report, the statements made on the qualification matrix are based on the self-assessment carried out by the Supervisory Board with the support and validation provided by an external consultant. And this process applies equally to all fields of competence identified in the qualification matrix. There's another question asked by Wolfgang Schäfer. You asked for training measures for the members of the Supervisory Board. For internal education and training measures for the members of the Supervisory Board of DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, we have a total amount of 7.5 hours per member for the 2024 financial year. In addition, there are different trainings provided by external providers, which are split unevenly across the individual members. In total, the company bore the cost of that amounting to a total of a few thousand euros for the 2024 financial year. Then I have a question here and a somewhat longer answer, addressing a question by Andreas Schmidt of German SDK Association. Dear Mr. Schmidt, you first asked whether DWS filed action against EY ourselves, what the amount under dispute is, and how we can prevent EY from learning about internal information about our process or trial and litigation strategy. And your third question refers to why we proposed the EY as auditor to the general assembly, who made that proposal, and whether all of these points were considered? To answer your first question, the damage claims filed against EY Germany are put forward exclusively at the expense of various funds, which are not part of the consolidation group or group of consolidated entities within DWS Group and the amounts in total referred to about EUR 550 million. Your second question, looking after and caring for those various legal proceedings does not lead to any business procedures which are part of the annual or group statements of DWS Group, and therefore are not part of the audit. Regardless of that, we will make sure, by adopting organization measures, that in the future, EY in the course of future audits will not gain any insight into our litigation strategy. Also, we would like to stress that the funds audit is not the object of the mandate or a potential mandate of EY Germany. And your third question, we carried out a fair and transparent selection process in keeping with legal requirements. It was open to all external auditing companies. The selection criteria and their weighting were neutral and already in advance or had already been defined in advance. They were aiming at assessing the quality, the expertise and the independence of the applicants. The audit and risk [Audio Gap] after the selection process initiated by it. Since KPMG as the previous auditor is no longer available for auditing activities as of 1st January 2026, the Supervisory Board of DWS submitted, to this year's AGM, this proposal of initially appointing EY for the period from 1st January '26 and the AGM 2026 as the auditor potentially required auditor reviews. The appointment of a new legally appointed auditor and group auditor for DWS Group is going to be the topic of the AGM 2026. Thank you. And with that, I have no further questions to be answered. And back to Stefan Hoops.

Thank you. We now have a number of answers to different questions, and we will try to group them by topic. And I'll try to start with a more general one on a particular topic. And then sometimes your questions were addressing rather specific points on individual companies, for instance. So I'll try to come from the general to the more specific points. So first of all, starting with anything to do with World Wildlife Fund and anything to do with sustainability, then questions to do with gender neutrality, diversity and afterwards, defense. Now Mr. Diaz, you asked for the profit that DWS do from fees for WWF funds and the profit per fund. We assume that you're referring to the admin fees that we retain for this, and we refer you to the annual report of DWS Concept ESG Blue Economy Fund in the section on Cost and Earnings. For the 2024 financial year on Page 17, you will find expenses, and in that, admin costs. Also, you asked for us to confirm that cooperation with WWF was discontinued and terminated from the WWF side and asked us for the data about it. Our partnership, especially in connection with the Blue Economy Fund was terminated on 21st May '25. The termination was initiated by WWF Germany. Also, Mr. Diaz, you asked for the amount of donations that we made to WWF. Since 2021, DWS has been supporting World Wildlife Fund with an annual project-related donation in the amount of EUR 200,000. Over 3 years, we were able to support the world of WWF along the Mesoamerican Reef near Belize and maritime protection is part of our societal engagement and commitment. You also asked for license fees that DWS paid as part of the contract on this fund. And you also asked for the size of the fund for the years '21, '22, '23 and '24, and the income DWS generated from these funds. Generally, we do not comment on contractual details with partners. As regards to the assets under management and the amount of admin fees for the years '21, '22, '23 and '24, we would like to respectfully refer you to the annual reports of the respective funds that you will find for the respective last year on our homepage and which you can request for years before that. I then move on to climate change questions. Starting with you, dear Ms. Dubslaff. You asked about our self-understanding in our role fighting climate change. Climate change requires a general transformation of industry and economy and bears both risks and opportunities. We, therefore, see climate change as a potentially material risk to sustainability with direct and indirect financial impacts on companies which can be materializing in physical risk and also transition risks. At the same time, there are investment opportunities in the fields of infrastructure, energy efficiency and green technologies, which promote growth and innovation. Therefore, we expect of our portfolio companies that they assess and manage material climate-related risks and opportunities. For that, they should implement appropriate governance structures and also provide transparency regarding transition strategies. Additionally, we offer to our customers investment competence and solutions, allowing them to manage the transformation to a low CO2 economy. Next to that, you asked for ourselves, image. DWS as a responsible company wants to contribute to a sustainable future. And as such, we manage the environmental impact of our own operating activities. Then you, dear Mr. Diaz, asked whether we generally stand by the objectives of the European Green Deal and whether we support any holistic view, not exclusively looking at that. As a European asset manager, we welcome the target of the European Green Deal. The transition towards a more sustainable economy is important from our point of view, also for long-term stability and investment security. At the same time, we are in favor of a practical and proportionate implementation. The regulatory framework should make change easier for companies, especially medium-sized ones, not make it more difficult. We need clarity, less complexity and a stronger focusing on the effect of measures, not just reporting duties. We, therefore, actively advocate the further development and simplification of existing ESG requirements, so that sustainable investments remain scalable and the capital efficiently gets to where it can have the most impact, which is the real economy. Also, you asked for our attitude towards the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, CSRD. Now although CSRD is not yet implemented international legislation, we were one of the first asset managers worldwide to include a sustainability declaration based on standard EU Standards for Environmental and Sustainability reporting, ESRS, as part of our combined management report. We follow the current discussion regarding the application of the scope of application of CSRD. We welcome the objectives of the European Commission to simplify the administrative effort generated by CSRD and to make the requirements simpler and easier. Our position paper on the Omnibus proceeding is available on our public dialogue website. Ms. Dubslaff, with that we move on to the more specific points and questions on sustainability. Ms. Dubslaff, you were asking whether we had knowledge about allegations regarding human rights violations and environmental damage sustained in connection with specific LNG projects, which influence this information has on our risk assessment of TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil, and whether we support an investigation into the human rights situation. We are aware of the alleged human rights violations and environmental damages in connection with the LNG project, Papua LNG, Mozambique LNG and the EACOP pipeline. We, therefore, welcome an investigation which will create larger transparency and help clarify matters. And the fact alone that I might not have pronounced it properly does not mean that nobody in DWS knows about it. You will find the details on how we deal with human rights violations in our sustainability declaration as part of our annual report in the section on Workers in Our Downstream Value Chain, Pages 118 following. You also asked which measures we adopted in order to require from TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil that these allegations be investigated transparently and any violations be removed and remedied. Generally, we address the topic of human rights as part of our stewardship activities. We expect our portfolio companies to implement processes in order to identify violations of human rights, report them and avoid them. For further information, we refer you respectfully to our Stewardship Report 2024. You also asked how we ensure that such allegations are also known to our fund managers. Our fund managers are provided with relevant ESG data provided by external data providers. They, amongst others, also assess whether a company is involved in violations of internationally recognized standards. Next you, Mr. Diaz, asked when Ms. Fixler for the first time voiced her concerns internally. And as is publicly known, Ms. Fixler reported her concerns internally in March '21. And you also asked when discussions with the WWF on the DWS concept ESG Blue Economy started. This contract was signed in April '21. Discussions about it, however, already were initiated in the fall of 2019. Also, you asked who was involved in setting up the fund and whether there was any personnel overlap in connection with the greenwashing allegations and DWS Concept ESG Blue Economy. We would like to clarify that at no time, there were any allegations against individual employees. Therefore, the question for personnel overlap is mute. Next, specific company-related questions. Ms. Dubslaff, you asked us about the ExxonMobil climate protection ambitions and our views, in particular, whether we believe that they are subject to transition risks and whether we can see any success in terms of engagement with ExxonMobil and whether we consider excluding ExxonMobil. As other oil and gas companies, ExxonMobil is subject to transition risks. As a matter of principle, we address material transition risks in the form of dialogue with our portfolio companies. Detailed information about our engagement activities are available in our stewardship report 2024. Please bear with us for not providing you with any far-reaching details regarding our interaction with portfolio companies. Products with ESG or sustainability-related terms in their designations also comply with all the requirements of the ESMA guidelines, including binding exclusions for fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. Therefore, investing in Exxon is not possible. At this point, we are not planning any further exclusions regarding Exxon Mobil. Ms. Potts, you had asked about the reasons for regional differences in terms of expectations regarding gender diversity for portfolio companies. Regional changes in political and regulatory framework conditions can have an impact on our expectations as they may have a material impact on the companies located there, and therefore, region standards may be required. Political and legal developments in the U.S. have made it necessary for us to review our proxy policy for DWS investment GMBH for American companies as DEI programs and guidelines and policies can lead to economic and legal risks for you as companies. At this point in time, gender and ethnicity are not explicitly taken into account in our voting decisions for U.S. companies. You've also asked us how we ensure that diversity targets are actively pursued in all the business divisions. We apply our requirements regarding diversity, in particular, wherever this is possible for us because we are shareholders. This primarily relates to supervisory and administrative councils, more far-reaching information very often is not available. Ms. [ Potts ], you also asked us about our expectations regarding our portfolio companies with regard to the compliance with gender justice and women's rights in the supply chain. Our mutual funds based in Europe and actively managed and our Xtrackers ETFs which report according to Articles 8 or 9 of the disclosure regulation excludes companies, including companies that have shown severe violations of international standards, including, for example, the UN Global Compact or the OECD guidelines for multinational companies or the core labor standards of the ILO. We also reserve the rights to ensure that portfolio companies that do not comply was internationally recognized standards or where there are any indications of not addressing controversies in appropriate manner to vote against the reelection of the CEO. So we reserve the right to vote against the reelection of the CEO or the Chairman. Mr. [ Diaz ], you asked us about the EU supply chain and whether we are all in favor of continuing the requirement of the EU Support Chain Act? We share the overall target of the EU Supply Chain Act, the CSDDD to promote responsible entrepreneur action along the value chain. Accordingly, we have not spoken out against the CSDDD. As such, our position was, however, that the specific roles and business model of financial service providers be taken into account in a more differentiated manner. Asset managers do not invest into their own supply chains, but rather have a fiduciary asset management function. And for our investments, the SFDR requirements apply. Dual reporting obligations would not enhance transparency nor impact but will above all, create bureaucracy. Therefore, we did not speak out against the target of the CSDDD as such, but rather we spoke out in favor of useful and proportionate implementation in the regulation. Our position paper is available on our website in the public dialogue section. Next, Ms. [ Potts ], you asked us about our Article 8 funds and how many of them have already been invested. Our actively managed mutual funds based in Europe applying the DWS ESG investment standard filter or use ESG or sustainability related terms in their name continue to exclude investment in defense shares. These are more than 50 funds with assets fund volume managed of more than EUR 50 billion by the end of May 2025. Our Europe-based actively managed mutual funds applying the DWS Basic exclusion filter and which do not have any ESG or sustainability related terms in the name have been open for investment and defense shares. The respective sales prospectuses have been adjusted for more than 100 funds with a fund volume of more than EUR 100 billion as of the end of May 2025. Then you, Ms. [ Potts ], had also asked whether with our Article 8 funds we intend to exclude companies, which, in your words, are involved in corrupt defense deals. The exclusions for defense companies can be found in the product-specific investment policy. At the moment, we do not plan to apply any further limitations for defense industries which report according to Article 8 of the disclosure policy or regulation, actually. Ms. [ Potts ], you asked which role the financial performance of defense shares plays in the decision to eliminate the defense exclusion in the DWS basic inclusion filter? Now when we took the decision to adjust our DWS basic exclusions filter, we took the new and changing social consensus regarding the defense industry, the increasingly specific regulatory requirements in the sustainability context as well as the respective adjustment of the target market concept in Germany into account. You also asked Ms. [ Potts ], why our Article 8 funds, which apply to DWS basic inclusions can now also invest in nuclear weapons and depleted uranium? In the context of geopolitical developments, the expectations for the financial industries regarding funding the defense sector have changed. In this context, we now agree with the classification of the EU Commission and recognize the contributions of the defense sector to increase robustness, security and peace. In accordance with the ESG target market concept in Germany, we have therefore opened the Europe-based actively managed mutual funds, which report according to Article 8 of the disclosure policy and apply the DWS basic exclusion filter. Now we all have opened that one for investment in defense shares. Controversial weapons, such as anti-person mines, cluster ammunition, biological and chemical weapons will continue to remain excluded for those funds that apply to DWS basically inclusion filter. Then Ms. [ Potts ], now you became more and more specific with this question. You asked about our Article 8 funds which apply the DWS basic exclusive filter. And here, the question was whether in addition to anti-person mines cluster ammunition chemical and biological weapons, there are further controversial weapons that are excluded? Controversial weapons in the context of international conventions related to anti-person mines, cluster ammunition, biologic and chemical weapons, are excluded for those funds that apply the DWS Basic inclusion filter, and that will remain so. Furthermore, funds, which report according to Article 8 or 9 of the disclosure regulation and which have ESG or sustainability related terms in the name exclude those companies which are involved in further controversial weapons or weapon systems. This includes nuclear weapons, weapons with depleted uranium, incendiary bombs with white phosphorus, blinding laser weapons and weapons with nondetectable fragmentary ammunition. The 2 lateral weapons were included in the respective sales prospectuses with the most recent adjustment of the ESG filter. Now you, [ Mr. Dufner ] had referred to one quote from my introductory talk, namely that we wanted to resolve the internal challenges quickly and quietly. Now this means that we want to tackle internal challenges efficiently and effectively in order to be able to fully focus on our business for the benefit of our customers and also our shareholders. Now please give us 1 minute to gather further answers to your questions.

Thank you very much, Stefan. I've got 2 more questions. These are the last 2, which we currently have at the moment. That was a question by [ Mr. Dufner of [indiscernible] ] Mr. Dufner, you asked whether DWS will hold an in-person or even a hybrid AGM next year and what our plans up to 2030 are? The general partner and the Supervisory Board have decided to propose to the AGM 2025 and authorization that takes the demands of some of our shareholders and leading voting advisers into account. Now we tend to hold a physical AGM already near 2026. And beyond that, also at regular intervals, which must not be longer than 4 years, unless extraordinary circumstances prevent us from holding an in-person AGM. And then there's a second question of yours, which I'd like to answer, Mr. Dufner. You asked about the handover from my predecessor Karl von Rohr to me in the capacity of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. And you also asked about the assessment of my work on the Supervisory Board by Mr. von Rohr. You also asked about potential changes of the strategic focus of DWS initiated by me as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. As I already stated in my address, the Supervisory Board elected me unanimously as their Chairman. My predecessor, Karl von Rohr, has closely supported me in the first months of my office and really has made it very easy for me to familiar myself with the work of the Supervisory Board Chairman. And this also includes ESG matters. Up to the present day, Karl von Rohr is a member of the Special Committee, which we set up in 2021 which deals with ESG matters, and he is also a highly recognized member of that body. Regarding the strategic direction of DWS, I'd like to emphasize that this is a matter to be handled by the Executive Board which, of course, we closely monitor as the Supervisory Board. And we do so not only during the 2-day annual strategy offsite meeting but on a continuous basis. Furthermore, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I'm in -- I'm having a continuous and direct exchange with the Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Stefan Hoops on these matters. And also, let me also add a personal note. If you're worried about my personal well-being, I feel very much at ease in this setup. Thank you very much. Now at the moment I think the Chairman wanted to give me a break. But as a father of 3 kids, I'm very resilient in reading matters. And therefore, I'd like to continue right away. And there were a couple of follow-up questions on the WWF and also questions on diversity and defense. Mr. [ Diaz ], you asked about changes in our cooperation with the worldwide fund. Now the collaboration with the WWF in Blue Economy was, as you all know, terminated on 21st of May 2025. In the past 4 years, WWF Germany was an important partner in our cooperation in order to allow DWS to increase their know-how in the area of ocean economics. WWF Germany has supported us very much in defining and assessing the engagement approach, the assessment of the capability of transformation of companies and the identification and assessment of the engagement candidates. You asked also whether in the future, we want to leave the responsibility for investment strategies with our customers and clients themselves? I had already stated on this before. Our ambition remains the same. We want to provide investment expertise and solutions, allowing our customers to master the sustainable transformation of the real economy. We manage the funds of our customer. In order to take investment preferences and regal specifics into account, we offer basically products with different investment criteria. But at the end of the day, our customers decide on their own by selecting a specific product to what extent ESG matters are to be taken into account when they invest their money. Mr. Dufner, you asked about our membership in the Net Zero initiative (NZAM)? Which position we hold after various competitors have left that initiative and which effect that realignment of the initiative has got on the reduction targets of DWS? In 2025, in January of that month, NZAM initiated a review of their initiative to make sure that their initiative also meets its targets in a changing global environment. During this review, the initiative has suspended its activities. We welcome the decision of NZAM to review its initiative considering the emerging political and macroeconomic environment. In this context, it is our aim to also review our own approach in order to take the emerging regulatory market and customer-related developments into account. And of course, we will assess the results of the NZAM review as soon as they have become available. Mr. Dufner, you asked about our exchange with Morningstar regarding the cooperating of DWS. Basically, the rating is the result of an independent analysis by Morningstar. In the context of the drafting of this assessment, we provide, of course, the information which Morningstar asked about. On the whole, we have a regular exchange with Morningstar regarding our company and our funds. And of course, it is our aim to respond to the aspects raised by Morningstar in a constructive manner. Mr. Dufner, you asked in which areas DWS wants to improve after having received a critical assessment by share action on the subject of biodiversity, climate and social affairs? As I've mentioned before, we continuously evolve our processes in order to create long-term value for our customers. In the context of our stewardship activities, for example, we focus on climate-related risks and opportunities, matters related to nature such as water biodiversity and environmental contamination and the compliance of international standards. Ms. Dupslaf, you asked how many funds which have changed their name by applying the ESMA policy are directly managed by DWS and what the reasons for this name changes were? And you also asked whether the existing investments of these funds in coal, oil and gas companies will remain? You also asked how many funds with sustainability environmental or impact-related names are directly managed by DWS? Now of our actively managed mutual funds, the investment policies we determine our own, more than 50 of them meet the requirements of the ESMA policies and have ESG or sustainability-related terms in their names. With a smaller number of such funds in the lower 2-digit range, we have removed these terms from their names. In individual cases, there were adjustments which were independent of the ESMA policies such as liquidations or repositioning. On the whole, more than 90% of the assets under management of our actively managed mutual funds, the investment policy we determine our own and which initially had come under the scope of the ESMA policies meet the minimum requirements and continue to have ESG or sustainable-related terms in their names. Furthermore, more than 50 passive Xtrackers ETFs comply with the minimum requirements of ESMA. With a smaller number of passive Xtrackers, ETFs in the lower 2-digit range, ESG and sustainability-related terms were removed from the names. Here, changes of the index methodology or classification required that renaming. Minimum exclusions for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are covered by the minimum requirements of the ESMA policies, and this has been taken into account in the funds with ESG or sustainability-related terms in their names. All in all, more than 100 funds in the areas of active, passive and alternatives have ESG or sustainability-related terms in their names. By the end of May 2025, they managed to fund volume of about EUR 80 billion. Mr. Dufner, you asked why DWS had not signed the open letter of 150 companies and investors to the EU institutions to support ambitious climate goals and whether we still consider signing that letter retroactively. Now each statement or voluntary commitment, which we signed must be cautiously analyzed regarding its specific impacts. And that's why we cannot simply sign every statement of voluntary commitment even if we fundamentally agree with its contents. However, we support and welcome any initiatives that aim for sustainable transformation of the economy. Ms. Dupslaf, you asked why according to our website, we only have 70 funds reporting according to Article 6 of the disclosure policies, while 186 funds do so according to Article 8, although we consider the disclosure regulation as a labeling and marketing tools? Here, you refer to contribution of DWS to the consultation of SFDR. Now let me clarify one thing at this point. Disclosure in our view, is not a mere labeling and marketing tool. Quite in contrast to that, as part of the consultations, we clearly express that some market participants view it this way. In my address, I had stated that we are guided by the investment aims and decisions of our clients, which, of course, have their own individual interests and key priorities. That's why we offer a wide range of investment policies in order to be able to create long-term value for the benefit of our clients. This includes strategies that take sustainability aspects into account as well as those serving conventional targets and which report according to Article 6 of the disclosure policy. Ms. [ Potts ], you asked about our expectations of companies regarding promoting equal pay and combating gender-specific discrimination. You also asked as to why we hadn't employed the women's empowerment principles of the UN and how DWS ensures that people have paid the same for the same work? Now as part of our stewardship activities, we address equal pay and gender-specific discrimination in dialogue with our portfolio companies if we're talking about a material subject for the respective company. As has already been mentioned in one of the previous answers, each declaration or self-commitment that we sign has to first be assessed with due diligence regarding its effects. That is a complex process. Thus, we cannot simply sign every declaration or self-commitment even if we believe that its content is correct. The same applies here for the Women's Empowerment Principles. Moreover, you also asked as to how we can ensure fair remuneration between men and women for the same work? And also, you asked for the transparent reports and goals in this regard. The remuneration framework of DWS applies for all employees in the same way and is based on the same -- on the principle of the same pay for the same work in order to ensure fair treatment of all employees. As part of our sustainability reporting, for the first time, we have published an adjusted and non-adjusted gender-specific pay gap. For fiscal 2024, in consideration of objective, gender-neutral criteria such as seniority, business division and region, we calculated an adjusted pay gap of 5.2%. We would like to respectfully refer to our management report 2024, Page 114. At the moment, there are no internal or external goals for the adjusted pay gap. Ms. [ Potts ], you asked about listed defense companies who only provide for armies of democratic states and not to regimes carrying wars and infringing human rights. As a parameter for the identification of defense companies, we use revenue limits. These do not explicitly take into account a production for democratic states or supply of weapons to war-faring regimes. The database for these exclusion criteria and the processes subject thereto can be found in the respective documents for the respective asset product -- investment product. Ms. [ Potts ], you asked as to whether according to our Article 8 funds, the DWS basic exclusions filter, whether customers, investors and other stakeholders have been consulted regarding this? We are always committed to acting in the best interest of our clients. We want to provide solutions that fulfill the requirements of our customers, investors and sales partners. Regarding investments in the defense sector, we have participated in the Federal Association for Investment and Asset Management in the discussion for adjusting the ESG target market concept. Also, our decision was based on the change in geopolitical situation and the goal of providing a product portfolio for various customer preferences. For funds that have ESG or sustainability related terms in the name, we see the role of a defense sector further in a differentiated way, and we do exclude investments in defense. Ms. [ Potts ], you also asked about shareholder engagement in defense companies and whether weapons are not supplied to war-faring nations or regimes? You also asked if we intend to change our approach here? As part of our stewardship activities, we fundamentally focus on topics, which we believe are significantly instrumental to the ability for a portfolio company to provide long-term value and protecting human rights is an important factor here. We, therefore, expect of companies that they implement processes to identify infringements of human rights and to report and prevent them. The same expectation is valid for defense companies. For portfolio companies that infringe internationally recognized standards, we reserve the right to vote against the reelection of members of the Executive Board or Supervisory Board. For further details, please consult the corporate governance and proxy voting policy of DWS Investment GmBH that can be found on our website. And then a similar question, but a little more specific, I believe. Ms. [ Potts ], you asked regarding our Article 8 funds that we -- whether we, for the future, intend to exclude companies that supply weapons to parties that are carrying out wars against international rights? Now looking at the sustainability context, we still view this in a nuanced way such that our products have different assets and investment criteria. Accordingly, in our actively managed mutuals that are according to Article 8 or 9 of the disclosure regulation all have ESG or sustainability related terms in the name, we still exclude companies that are involved in controversial weapons or weapon systems or that also generate considerable revenue with defense goods. And we also at the moment are not providing for a general exclusion regarding defense exports assuming that this is not provided for in the product-specific investment policy. Then 2 questions from you, Mr. [ Diaz ]. You asked as to whether we planned to leave the United Nations supported principles for responsible investment? We are currently not intending to withdrawal from the United Nations supported principles for responsible investment. Moreover, you also asked whether we intend to do away with existing ESG policies? We understand that you mean our ESG-related self-commitments. As I've already said in other responses, we are looking at the inspection of the NZAM initiative, and we'll then take this into account. Then, Mr. [ Diaz ], you asked about our attitude to the proposed value chain Voluntary SME standard for short, VSME. We fundamentally welcome the intentions of small -- to protect small- and medium-sized enterprises from disproportionate reporting requirements. Our position paper on the Omnibus proceedings can be found on our website. Thank you. Now ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, we've reached the end of our session answering the questions and are approaching the vote. Therefore, I would like to point out already at this point that granting and changing instructions to the company's proxy and also voting by postal vote are no longer possible, as soon as I have once again explained the voting procedure. Therefore, please make sure that you cast your votes and instructions over the next few minutes. With the end of the vote, the access to the change function will also be closed for the postal votes and the postal vote data will be recorded to determine the voting results. I would like to thank the speakers for their contributions and questions and Stefan Hoops for his comprehensive answers and hereby close the debate. Okay. I've just seen that there are 2 more requests to speak. There's Mr. [ K W Freitag ] in the waiting room. Are you ready and prepared to speak, Mr. [ Freitag ]? Mr. [ Freitag ] is still in the onboarding process, so we'll take a quick break here of 5 minutes. Thank you. [Break]

Okay. We can continue with the next questions. Mr. [ Freitag ] has registered to speak but we cannot reach him, unfortunately. He's also not visible to us on the portal. So Mr. [ Freitag ], if you want to make a contribution, please let us know. Also, I would like to point out that in about 10 minutes time, we're going to close the list of speakers. So let me ask you again to register to speak, if you wish to do so and explicitly Mr. [ Freitag ], please let us know if you want to speak. We're not able to reach you, you had logged off the portal. So we'll start with you, [ Markus Dufner ] for a second round of questions. Welcome back for your second additional questions.

Thank you, Mr. Behrens for giving me the floor once again. Firstly, let me make a remark regarding your answers. I have to say some of your answers had a purely formal nature without going into any detail regarding the content. Let me just give you 1 example. The open letter signed by 150 companies and investors, that is a bit too little, I find as an answer. We cannot go into the details of all initiatives and open letters, and we are thoroughly reviewing that. I mean, Allianz is not a no-name company and others of the signatures. So it's not just any initiative. And I would think DWS would have to also review that if you are serious about climate protection and decarbonization. So let me urge you to please review and check this once again. And also comment on it in a more substantial manner. We are not satisfied with the rather offhand answer provided by Mr. Hoops. I'll leave it at that, although I would have some other points of criticism. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dufner. I think we can react to that directly. Mr. Hoops will answer, Stefan?

Yes, I'm happy to do so. Mr. Dufner, first of all, I'm sorry if it came across as us not taking the time for looking at them all. So your request, your question was for us to recheck it thoroughly, I can give you my personal commitment and promise that we'll look at that matter once again and then make the decision on the DWS side that we find apt.

Right. At the moment, I can see no further requests for the floor or requests to speak. Okay, then once again, I would like to thank the speakers for their contributions and questions and also, Stefan Hoops for the comprehensive answers provided and all of you for this debate. And with this, I, since there are no further questions, close the debate. And with that, we come to the voting procedure. First of all, I'd like to briefly take you through the voting process. At today's Annual General Meeting, only the voting proxy appointed by the company cast vote as part of the voting procedure and on the basis of the powers of attorney and instructions issued to him. The instructions stored in the system are released to the voting proxy during the vote. The authorizations and instructions issued or change -- changes to instructions made before the corresponding function of the shareholder portal is closed are, of course, taking into account and transferred to the electronic counting system. The function forecasting votes or making changes will now be available to you for a short time until I have once again summarized the various items on the agenda. Of course, the postal votes will also be fed into the electronic counting system and will be included in the voting results, together with the votes cast today by the voting proxy appointed by the company. Voting is carried out using the addition procedure. That means that the yes votes and the no votes are counted. In view of the fact that the company's voting proxy representative has been appointed, I will vote on all resolution items in 1 single ballot as follows: For agenda items 1 to 11, the proposed resolutions as published in the Federal Gazette on 30th April 2025 as part of the invitation to today's Annual General Meeting are authoritative in each case. The resolution on agenda item 1 comprises the adoption of the annual financial statements. General partner and the Supervisory Board propose that the annual financial statements of DWS Group GMBH and Co. KGaA, for the 2024 financial year be adopted. Under agenda Item 2, the General Partner and the Supervisory Board proposed that the distributable profit of EUR 942,891,126.30 to distribute a dividend of EUR 2.20 per no-par value share on the EUR 200 million no-par value shares entitled to dividends for the 2024 financial year and to use the remaining amount of EUR 502,891,126.30 as profit to be carried forward to new account. Item 3 on the agenda is the vote on the formal approval of the actions of the General Partner for the 2024 financial year. The General Partner and the Supervisory Board propose that discharge be granted. In this vote, the General Partner, the Managing Directors and the shareholder of the General Partner may not exercise voting rights from their own shares or those of third parties nor may third parties exercise voting rights from shares belonging to the general partner, the Managing Directors or the General Partners shareholder. The persons concerned have ensured that the voting prohibitions are complied with. A countermotion to the management's proposal has been submitted by [indiscernible] which proposes that the actions of the general partner for the 2024 financial year be denied discharge. Anyone wishing to vote in favor of this motion should vote no. Agenda Item 4 is the vote on the formal approval of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board for the 2024 financial year. The General Partner at the Supervisory Board proposes that discharge be granted. In this vote, Members of the Supervisory Board may not exercise their voting rights from their own shares or those of third parties nor may third parties exercise voting rights from shares belonging to Supervisory Board members. Moreover, the General Partner, the Managing Directors and the shareholder of the General Partner may not exercise voting rights in this vote from their own shares or those of third parties nor may third parties exercise voting rights from shares belonging to the General Partner, the Managing Directors or the shareholder of the General Partner. The individuals concerned have ensured that these aforementioned voting prohibitions are complied with. A countermotion to the management's proposal has been submitted by the [indiscernible] which proposes that the actions of the Supervisory Board for the 2024 financial year be denied discharge. Anyone wishing to vote in favor of this motion must vote, no. Under agenda Item 5, the Supervisory Board, based on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee, proposes under agenda Item 5.1 that KPMG Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Berlin be elected as auditor and group auditor for the 2025 financial year and for the review of the condensed financial statements and the interim management report as at 30th of June 2025 and if applicable, other interim financial information prepared with reporting dates prior to December 31, 2025. Under agenda Item 5.2, to elect EY GMBH and Co. KGaA Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart as auditor for the review of any other interim financial information with reporting dates after 31st December '25, and so far, as this is to be prepared before the Annual General Meeting in 2026. And proposed under agenda Item 5.3 to appoint KPMG Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Berlin, as auditor, for the purpose of confirming the sustainability reporting for the 2025 financial year with effect from the entry into force of the implementing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive into German law, the CSRD Implementation Act. In this respect, the Supervisory Board should only implement the resolution if the appointment of the auditor of the sustainability reporting for the 2025 financial year is requested by the Annual General Meeting in accordance with the CSRD Implementation Act. When voting on Items 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3, the General Partner, the Managing Directors and the shareholder of the General Partner may not exercise voting rights from their own shares or from third-party shares nor may third parties exercise voting rights from shares belonging to the General Partner, the Managing Directors or the shareholder of the General Partner. The individuals concerned have taken precautions to ensure that the aforementioned voting prohibitions are complied with. Under agenda Item 6, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose that in accordance with Section 162 in conjunction with Section 278 that you approve the compensation report prepared in accordance with this. Under agenda Item 7, the Supervisory Board proposes, based on the recommendation of the shareholder representatives and its Nomination Committee that Mr. Tomohiro Yao be elected to the Supervisory Board as a shareholder representative until the end of the Annual General Meeting that resolves on the discharge for the 2026 financial year. The general partner, the Managing Directors and the shareholder of the general partner may not exercise voting rights from their own shares or from shares held by third parties nor may third parties exercise voting rights from shares belonging to the general partner, the Managing Directors or the shareholder of the general partner. Here again, the persons concerned have taken precautions to ensure that these voting provisions are observed. Under agenda Item 8, the Supervisory Board proposes that you approve the compensation system for the Managing Directors of the general partner. Under agenda Item 9, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose that you approve the compensation for the members of the Supervisory Board, including the underlying compensation system and amend Article 14 of the Articles of Association accordingly. A brief introduction and for the sake of good order, at this point of time, we close the list of speakers. Thank you for understanding. Under agenda Item 10, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose that a resolution be passed to amend Section 19 of the Articles of Association with regard to the compensation of the members of the Joint Committee. Under agenda Item 11, the general partner and the Supervisory Board propose an amendment to Section 21 of the Articles of Association. This is intended to further authorize the general partner to provide, if necessary, for a virtual annual meeting to be held without the physical presence of shareholders or their proxies at the venue of the Annual General Meeting. Any decision to hold a virtual Annual General Meeting should only be made by the general partner with the approval of the Supervisory Board. The authorization shall apply to the holding of virtual Annual General Meetings for a period of 2 years after entry of these provisions of the Articles of Association in the company's commercial register. A countermotion to the management's proposal has been submitted by the German Association [indiscernible] , which requests that the management's proposed resolution to reauthorize the general partner to decide on the holding of a virtual Annual General Meeting be rejected. Anyone wishing to vote in favor of this motion should vote no. So much for the agenda. As already announced, at this point in time, you can no longer issue instructions to the company's proxy. I would now like to ask the company's voting representative to cast the vote. And again, let me point out once more that the possibility to change the voting behavior for postal votes ends with the closing of the vote. I'm now waiting for a signal from the voting proxy to continue. [Voting]

Thank you. We have received the signal from the proxy. I can see that the company's proxy has had an opportunity to carry out the voting on all agenda items in line with the instructions given to him and I hereby close the voting process. It will take a couple of minutes to determine the results of the vote. We will therefore briefly interrupt for about 15 minutes. And in 15 minutes' time, we will start by declaring the results after votes. Thank you. We'll see you in a moment. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, in the meantime, I have received the results of the votes. Let me now turn to the announcement of the resolutions adopted. After announcing the results, I will immediately close the AGM. Today, as last year, you will be announced the exact -- you will be shown the exact number of yes and no votes in the video transmission. So you will mostly hear me, but not see me on the screen. You may wish to use the full screen mode or at least enlarge your screen view to see the results. And we will also provide you with details regarding the results shown on the screen. As we will make the results visible to everybody in announcing the results, I would just state the required majority of votes received for each of the agenda items. The charts shown on the screen are part of my announcement of the result of the votes, and I expressly embrace them. The results of the vote will also be shown on the company's website shortly. Let me once again announce the current attendance of the capital stock of the company of EUR 200 million, divided into 200 million no-par value shares, a total of EUR 179,339,347 no-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented at today's AGM. This corresponds to 89.67% of the share capital. In addition, absentee postal votes have been cast for a total of 74,352 no-par value shares. In total, this means that 179,413,699 no-par value shares or 89.71% of the share capital are represented here today in the vote. Let me now turn to the results of the voting process. Shareholders, this takes us to the end of our agenda of today's AGM. Sorry. I state and announce for each resolution as follows: The voting related to the resolution proposals of the General Partner and the Supervisory Board or the resolution proposal of the Supervisory Board as announced in the Federal Gazette of 30th of April 2025. Regarding Agenda Item 1, adoption of the annual financial statements for 2024. The AGM adopted the proposal with the required majority of votes. This resolution according to Section 286 (1) of the German Stock Corporation law requires the approval of the General Partner. As I can see, the representatives of the General Partner, Dr. Kuder and Dr. Hoops are granting this approval. Next Agenda Item 2, appropriation of distributable profits for financial year 2024. The Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of votes. Regarding Agenda Item 3, ratification of the acts of management of the General Partner for financial year 2024. The Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. This means that the counterproposal has become obsolete. Regarding Agenda Item 4, ratification of the active management of the members of the Supervisory Board for Financial Year 2024. The Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. And this means that the counterproposal has become obsolete or mute. Regarding Agenda Item 5.1, election of the auditor of the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements and interim financial statements, the AGM has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. Regarding Agenda Item 5.2, election of the auditor for the limited reviews of interim financial reports, the AGM has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. Regarding Agenda Item 5.3. Election of the auditor for the sustainability reporting, the Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. Regarding Agenda Item 6. Resolution on approval of the compensation report. The Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. Regarding Agenda Item 7. Election to the Supervisory Board, Tomohiro Yao. The Annual General meeting has elected Tomohiro Yao to the Supervisory Board with the required majority of the votes. Mr. Yao had already announced in the run-up to the election that he was going to accept the election result. Regarding Agenda Item 8. Resolution on approval of the compensation system for the Managing Directors of the General Partner. The AGM has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes. Regarding Agenda Item 9. Resolution on the compensation of Supervisory Board members, including the compensation system and corresponding amendments to the Articles of Association. The AGM has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes and the required capital majority. This resolution requires the approval of the general partner, which was minuted and has just been passed to me in the run-up to this AGM by the Notary Public in accordance with Section 285 (2) and (3) of the German Stock Corporation Act. This is the certificate that contains the approval. Regarding Agenda Item 10. Amendment to Section 19 of the Articles of Association regarding the remuneration of the joint committee meetings, the AGM has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes and the required capital majority. Here too, the approval of the general partner is required and had already been minuted by the notary in the run-up to the AGM in line with Section 285 (2) and (3) of the German Stock Corporation Act, and this is also part of the notary deed that has just been passed to me. Regarding Agenda Item 11. Amendment to Section 21 of the Articles of Association to further facilitate virtual general meetings. The Annual General Meeting has adopted the proposal with the required majority of the votes and the required capital majority. This means that the counterproposal has become moved. Here too, the approval of the General Partner is required and has already been minuted by the notary public in the run-up to this AGM in line with Section 285 (2) and (3) of the Stock Corporation Act and has been part of the notary deal which has just been passed to me. Shareholders, this takes us to the end of the agenda for today's AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest in DWS and the virtual meeting that we have held here today. I would also like to once again thank Stefan Hoops and all Board members for answering the questions, and I would like to thank all employees involved in preparing and implementing this Annual General Meeting. I hereby close the meeting. We're looking forward to the Annual General Meeting of DWS to be held in 2026. It will once again take place in June. See you then. I wish you all the best. Enjoy the summer.