2026 Annual Shareholders' Meeting Season: EY and the Long Shadow of the Wirecard Scandal

Investor advocates are criticizing the reappointment of EY as auditor for Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen. Praise, however, for Allianz SE, which has chosen PwC for 2026

Deutsche Bank AG plans to reappoint Ernst & Young (EY) as its auditor at the Annual General Meeting on May 28, 2026. Volkswagen AG is pursuing the same plan at its Annual General Meeting on June 18, 2026. This has drawn strong opposition from investor advocates. In stark contrast, Allianz SE is proposing PwC—not EY—as its auditor at its Annual General Meeting on May 7, 2026. Investor advocates have praised this decision.

What investor advocates are criticizing at Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen: The reappointment of EY to the important role of auditor is incompatible with EY’s negative role in the Wirecard scandal. EY refuses to provide any clarification regarding the Wirecard scandal and, despite several requests from the Bavarian Higher Regional Court, is unwilling to negotiate compensation for Wirecard investors. Furthermore, in January/February 2024, the German EY subsidiary underwent a dramatic restructuring into multiple companies. This change in legal structure is intended to significantly limit creditors’ access to the assets of the formerly unified German EY subsidiary. In other words: EY has downsized itself so that, in the event of a crisis, it can at least use the newly established auditing company as a refuge, even into insolvency. One could simply describe the restructuring as unprofessional or even as a sleight of hand unworthy of an auditor of major DAX-listed corporations.

Shareholder Siotto from Braunschweig: “We cannot understand why Deutsche Bank is once again seeking to appoint EY as its auditor. EY is among those responsible for the Wirecard scandal, the biggest financial scandal in German history. EY is explicitly refusing to comply with a Bavarian Supreme Court request to seek settlement agreements with the victims. On the contrary: EY is actively shirking its responsibility.” Currently, Deutsche Bank is facing allegations of alleged involvement in money laundering activities. In January 2026, the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office searched the headquarters’ offices. In March 2026, lawsuits filed by former employees came to light in connection with transactions that Deutsche Bank had conducted several years ago with “Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.” Especially in the face of such challenges, the choice should fall on an auditor who is not itself caught in the crossfire of legal doubts.

Attorney Dr. Schirp of Berlin, whose law firm represents the lead plaintiff in the Wirecard class-action lawsuit: “We are just as baffled by Volkswagen AG’s decision to rely on EY once again. Especially given the back-and-forth surrounding the results of the 2025 fiscal year, a credible fresh start would have been necessary. When a surprising 6 billion euros in net liquidity appears in the year-end financial statements (Ad-hoc 1/21/2026) and an auditor like EY ultimately certifies everything, investors understandably have doubts. This is because, in contrast to these positive reports, there had been reports as recently as September 2025 of massive impairment charges at Porsche AG, a subsidiary of the VW Group. At that time, there were significant write-downs and a downward revision of the forecast, resulting in an unfavorable negative impact on earnings of around 5 billion euros for investors (Ad-hoc 9/19/2025). All of this took place under the supervision of the auditor EY, which apparently quickly “waves through” all of the client’s accounting maneuvers in order to retain its mandate in the future. For investors, however, all of this feels more like a lottery or a roller-coaster ride than sound compliance and supervision. Volkswagen plans to cut around 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 and needs the trust and cooperation of its workforce. How is that supposed to work with an auditor like EY, which still refuses to acknowledge its own role in the Wirecard scandal?” 

Investor advocates, on the other hand, have words of praise for Allianz SE. Allianz has selected PwC as its auditor for the 2026 fiscal year. An appointment of EY would be considered at the earliest starting in 2027. Dr. Schirp and Siotto comment: “This gives EY enough time to reach an agreement with the plaintiffs in the Wirecard class action case. If EY has come clean regarding Wirecard, there would be no reason why it couldn’t rejoin the ranks of the ‘Big Four’ starting in 2027.”  

The investor advocates will submit counter-motions at the annual general meetings of Deutsche Bank AG and Volkswagen AG, aimed at preventing EY from being reappointed as auditor, particularly in light of its continued refusal to cooperate in the investigation of the Wirecard scandal. Dr. Schirp and Siotto are convinced that such an auditor cannot act in the best interests of the companies in question and their investors:  They are expressly seeking support from all other shareholders.

For further inquiries, please contact:

-    Attorney Dr. Wolfgang Schirp, Schirp Schmidt-Morsbach Rechtsanwälte mbB, Kantstraße 149, D – 10623 Berlin, Tel. 0049-179-5320213, email: schirp@schirp.com, URL: www.schirp.com

-    Roberto Siotto, Braunschweig, Tel. 0049-172-7539755, email: robertosiotto@gmx.de