Deutsche Bank received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) (1). Among other requirements, this means the company has pledged to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies. Deutsche Bank permanently severed all financial ties with then-President Donald Trump, despite decades of close cooperation (2)(3). Despite this moralistic stance towards Trump, Deutsche Bank has been hard-pressed to rethink its ties with Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; the bank only decided to “wind down” its operations in Russia after significant public backlash to its earlier refusal to do so (4). Deutsche Bank will not finance a wide array of specific energy operations, including the development of coal-fired plants or most fracking projects (5).

Since Deutsche Bank is a German organization that is listed on both the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, the bank’s operations are subject to both German and American law, depending on the specific circumstance. Deutsche Bank’s United States-specific donation matching program prohibits contributions to “organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, creed, national origin, disability, handicap, age, sexual orientation, mental status, veteran status or any other basis prohibited by law.” The program also disallows “gifts to religious/political organizations” and donations to “organizations that promote political or religious causes (1).

The Deutsche Bank Group Code of Conduct does not provide protections against political viewpoint discrimination in any of the bank’s divisions or countries of operation (1).

Deutsche Bank has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). The company’s PGLE membership reflects its commitment to “operationalize” company coverage of transgender surgery and treatment, the vetting of business partners based on LGBTQ+ policies, and the financial support of LGBTQ organizations on a global level (3)(4)(5). The company signed the Business Coalition for Equality Act and its top executives have publicly announced opposition to the 2021 state-level election security laws in Georgia (6)(7). Deutsche has signed HRC denunciations of state-level LGBTQ laws (8). In 2016, Deutsche halted its plans to expand its North Carolina facilities in response to the state bill requiring people to use the bathrooms assigned to their biological sex (9). Deutsche Bank also publicly opposed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (10). Deutsche Bank has publicly lauded the Black Lives Matter movement (11). Deutsche Bank is a member of the Partnership for Global LGBTQI Equality (12). Interestingly, despite Deutsche Bank’s insistence on environmentally friendly financing, its asset management division DWS Group (80% owned by Deutsche) was raided by German authorities in 2022 due to concerns that its “ESG-friendly” investment funds were fraudulent (13). DWS Group is part of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and a PCAF member, committed to carbon neutrality with its investments by 2050 (14)(15).

In response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Deutsche Bank expanded its employee medical coverage and agreed to provide travel benefits for abortion (1). According to several sources, Deutsche Bank has directly funded Planned Parenthood, although the persistence of the funding is unclear (2)(3). Deutsche is a founding member of the PGLE and has contributed to a Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network education campaign (4)(5).

The Deutsche Bank Americas Corp. PAC has been largely inactive since the 2019–2020 fiscal year (1). However, earlier trends indicate bipartisan spending in accordance with business interests (2).