Deutsche Bank's Joseph Ackermann: Sexist Chief Executive Off

If you think big swinging Wall Street CEOs can't take a joke, you should listen to them they try to tell one.

This past weekend, Deutsche Bank's chief executive was working on some new material, which, after bombing, has put the man atop the German bank in a bit of a pickle.

During a recent "debate on whether Germany should set quotas for women on the boards of major groups, Josef Ackermann acknowledged there were [no females] on the bank's executive committee." Then he added, "But I hope it will be prettier and more colourful one day."

Get it?

Neither did Ilse Aigner -- "the conservative German minister for agriculture and consumer affairs [who] shot back in the [business daily Handelsblatt], saying: 'Those who like pretty and colourful things should go take a walk in a field of flowers or a museum.'"

In a rebuttal to the minister's wagging finger, "Deutsche Bank's chief spokesman told Handelsblatt that Ackermann's remarks were taken out of context and that he was 'a gentlemen from the old school.'"

Which is German for "a man with a limited sense of humor."

(Economic Times)