Varengold Bank appoints lawyer Marcus Columbu to supervisory board
Varengold Bank has appointed lawyer Marcus Columbu (pictured) to its supervisory board, replacing Florin Isac who has resigned for personal reasons.
The bank, which is currently the subject of a regulatory probe into its Iran-related payment transactions, said that Columbu was appointed today.
He is a specialist lawyer for banking and capital markets, and is a partner at AC Tischendorf Rechtsanwälte in Frankfurt, where he built up the law firm’s banking regulatory and compliance business.
He has also held roles in various administrative and supervisory bodies, and is currently chairman of the supervisory board of FiNet Asset Management.
He succeeds Isac, who Varengold Bank said “has regrettably resigned his mandate for personal reasons”.
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“I warmly welcome Columbu as a new member of our supervisory board and look forward to a successful collaboration,” said Dr. Karl-Heinz Lemnitzer, chairman of the supervisory board of Varengold Bank.
“Columbu complements and enriches our supervisory board with his many years of experience as a lawyer specialised in banking and capital market law and in with his extensive expertise in compliance. Together we want to develop and strengthen Varengold Bank strategically and also bring it into the future organisationally and structurally.”
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Last month, it emerged that the German banking regulator, BaFin, is investigating Varengold Bank’s payment transaction business in its commercial banking division.
Varengold Bank later revealed that the audit is focusing on payments connected to Iran. It has defended its business with the sanctioned country, indicating that the payments processed were for humanitarian reasons.
As a result of the audit, the bank has slashed its profit guidance and is cutting almost a quarter of its staff, to protect its capital base and comply with the regulator’s increased capital requirements.
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