2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
The VW group will have billions in costs due to the emissions scandal. But the carmaker will only get a fraction of the damage back from manager liability insurance.
The Volkswagen Group can only get back a fraction of the billions in costs as a result of the emissions scandal from the manager's liability insurance. The coverage of the so-called D&O insurance is unlikely to exceed half a billion euros, said Michael Hendricks, head of D&O broker Hendricks & Co., the financial news agency dpa-AFX. According to the head of the D&O insurance of the broker Aon in Hamburg, Marcel Roeder, the sum for Dax companies is often only 350 to 400 million euros.
Penalties in US up to 18 billion
Even if the company brought in additional millions directly from responsible managers, the sum would remain well below the damage estimated by VW of 6.5 billion euros. In addition, the company is threatened with fines of up to 18 billion US dollars (16.1 billion euros) in the USA. The car manufacturer did not want to comment on the subject of manager liability when asked.
Directors and Officers Insurance, or D&O for short, is designed to protect managers against claims for damages by their employers in the event of misconduct or negligence. In large corporations in particular, small mistakes at the top of the company can lead to immense damage. Management boards and supervisory boards must already be liable if they have not adequately fulfilled their control obligations, even if they were unaware of the specific incidents. However, the insurances do not cover intentionally caused violations. According to Aon expert Roeder, the reimbursement of fines is also legally controversial, as it would otherwise have no effect.
Long-time VW boss Martin Winterkorn resigned last Wednesday because of the affair over manipulated exhaust gas values in diesel engines. The group had previously had to admit that around eleven million vehicles worldwide are affected by the manipulation. After several criminal complaints, the Braunschweig public prosecutor initiated an investigation against Winterkorn on Monday. According to his own words, Winterkorn did not know anything about the trickery during the emissions tests. At VW, the search for those responsible is ongoing. The company wants to hold them accountable for what happened. (dpa)
