Managing Board

The Managing Board usually meets once a week to discuss the current course of business, and over the course of those meetings it makes the necessary decisions and adopts the required resolutions. The members of the Managing Board continuously exchange information with each other and the respective heads of the various departments. In managing the company, the Managing Board is supported by the Extended Executive Board and the Senior Advisory Board. These boards consist of managers that have international and specialist experience on the executive board level.

Supervisory Board

The management of the Company is periodically monitored by the Supervisory Board as a whole, as well as by its committees, its Chairman and Deputy Chairman. Detailed presentations and discussions during Supervisory Board and Supervisory Board Committee meetings are used for this purpose, as are recurring meetings between, in particular, the executive committee of the Supervisory Board and the members of the Managing Board, who provide comprehensive explanations and supporting documentation relating to the management and financial position of the Company and the Group. The strategy, business development, risk management, internal control system and activities of the internal audit department of the Company are also discussed at Supervisory Board meetings and in meetings with the Managing Board.

The Supervisory Board and Audit Committee also conduct direct discussions with the auditor of the financial statements and consolidated financial statements in order to inform themselves regarding the accounting process and the progress of the audit and to inquire whether the audit has produced any material findings. The audit reports are discussed and deliberated over in detail with the audit managers during the meetings dealing with the annual and Group financial statements. The Supervisory Board also obtains a quarterly report from the internal audit department, and has the Managing Board explain to it the organisation and functioning of the risk management and internal control systems.

The Supervisory Board has formed four committees from among its members, a Committee for Urgent Matters (Working Committee), Audit Committee (Accounts Committee), Committee for Managing Board Matters (Compensation Committee) and a Strategy Committee. Detailed information on these committees is provided in the “Supervisory Board committees” section.