Our Annual General Meeting 2023

Release date: 17 May 2023

“A thriving economy without functioning infrastructures? Unthinkable.” The message of this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was clear: the development of infrastructures has changed the world. They are the backbone of a thriving economy. As CEO Theodor Weimer said in his speech, providing a state-of-the art market infrastructure lies at the heart of Deutsche Börse Group’s business and defines our role in both society and economy. And 2023 will be characterised by our ongoing journey to build the future infrastructure of capital markets through digitisation and the advanced use of data. “This year, we are opening a new chapter,” Weimer pointed out as he welcomed the audience.

In his opening speech, Martin Jetter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board also emphasised the company’s role as a forerunner – in providing market infrastructure in the financial sector and the importance of dealing with emerging technologies. “There are enormous tasks ahead of us. The solution lies in new technologies, in innovations. And here exchange organisations play a key role. Among them is also Deutsche Börse AG as a marketplace for capital – and thus for investments that ensure a worthwhile future for our generation as well as for later generations,” Jetter said.

In times of many crises around the world and decreased economic growth, Weimer called for optimism and stressed the need to concentrate on those things that fall under our responsibility. “We have to continuously enhance the infrastructure for the markets we operate.” Moving on to the retrospect of last year’s performance, he emphasised: “We do everything we can to keep our promises. And sometimes – with a bit of luck – even to exceed them. Just like last year.” In the previous year, also the first digital securities via the digital post-trade platform D7 were issued – a great milestone for the digital future of the company. Weimer attributed all these achievements to our colleagues around the globe and expressed his gratitude on behalf of the entire Executive Board.

He then moved on to point out the successful start in 2023: continuous growth, a new strategic partnership with Google Cloud, and the announcement of a friendly takeover offer for SimCorp. With the acquisition the Group will close a gap in its value chain to cover the entire investment management process. Furthermore, 2023 should be an exciting year with the planned combining of Qontigo and ISS, creating a leading provider of high-quality indices and sustainability data. Together with SimCorp, ISS and Qontigo will become a new growth segment for Deutsche Börse Group, renamed Investment Management Solutions. In doing so, the Group is taking a further step from data and analytics to software and services for investment management. These announcements reveal the direction of our new strategy “Horizon 2026” that will be introduced later this year.

Have a look at the personal video statement by Martin Jetter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, summarising the Annual General Meeting: