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1There were also some changes on the Supervisory Board in 2023. Ms Annabelle Bexiga, 2Mr Minoru Kimura and Mr Said Zanjani resigned after many years of valuable service on the 3Supervisory Board. Their contributions in the plenary session and in the committees were 4already acknowledged in detail at the last Annual General Meeting. The Annual General 5meeting in June 2023 elected Prof Dr Christina E. Bannier and Mr Kazuhide Toda to the 6Supervisory Board and extended the mandates of the previous shareholder representatives – 7Ms Ute Wolf, Ms Margret Suckale, Mr Aldo Cardoso, Mr Richard I. Morris, Jr., Mr Bernd 8Leukert and myself. There were also changes on the employee representatives side: Ms 9Christine Metzler was elected to the Supervisory Board as a new employee representative. 10Ms Angela Meurer as well as Mr Stephan Accorsini and Mr Erwin Stengele were confirmed in 11their office. At this point I would like to thank the departed members of the Executive and the 12Supervisory Board for their personal commitment and their contribution to the company.13There were further important developments for our Board in the fourth quarter: The 14Supervisory Board – supported by the recommendations of the Nomination Committee – 15decided to propose Mr Oliver Behrens for election to the DWS Supervisory Board at the 16Annual General Meeting in June 2024. It is intended that the Supervisory Board will elect him 17as its new Chairman following the Annual General Meeting. He will succeed me as Chairman, 18as I informed the company in April 2023 of my intention to resign as Chairman of the 19Supervisory Board after six years of service. In addition, the Supervisory Board – also on the 20recommendation of the Nomination Committee – decided to propose to the Annual General 21Meeting that Mr James von Moltke be elected as an additional member of the Supervisory 22Board. Both nominations were the result of an intensive selection process by the Nomination 23Committee under the leadership of Margret Suckale which lasted several months. We are sure 24that we have found two excellently suitable candidates to complement and continue our 25successful work on the Supervisory Board and that this new constellation will continue to 26ensure trusting cooperation in the interests of DWS in challenging times, so that we can move 27DWS forward together on its future path.28In detail for the reporting year:29The Supervisory Board continuously and properly performed the tasks assigned to it by legal 30and supervisory provisions, the company's articles of association and the Supervisory Board's 31rules of procedure. In fulfilment of our supervisory duties, we monitored and advised the 32General Partner in the management of DWS. In addition to monitoring ongoing business 33operations and providing strategic advice, we primarily dealt with business events and 34transactions of material importance to the company as well as important personnel matters. 35In addition, we dealt with important questions of corporate management and organization as 36well as compliance and control issues and the governance standards implemented by DWS. 37The management regularly informed us in writing and verbally about important company 38matters. In addition, there was a regular exchange of information between the Chairman of 39the Supervisory Board, the Chairmen of the Supervisory Board Committees and the 40management. We were continuously, comprehensively and promptly informed about the 41company's business development and strategy, corporate, financial and human resources 42planning, profitability, the control framework and the corporate environment including the 43company's compliance as well as the risk, liquidity and capital management activities.44A total of 33 meetings of the Supervisory Board and its standing committees took place in the 45financial year 2023. The average participation rate was more than 97%. Information about the 46participation of individual members of the Supervisory Board is contained in the ‘Meeting 47Attendance’ section of this Annual report. Where necessary, resolutions were passed by 48circulation in between meetings.49Meetings of the Supervisory Board in Plenum50The Supervisory Board held nine meetings in 2023, in which we dealt with all matters of 51significance to the company within the scope of our responsibilities.52At our first meeting on 26 January 2023, we reviewed the 2022 full year financial performance 53and discussed plan deviations, current business developments, existing projections and 54agreed objectives. In addition, based on the Audit and Risk Committee’s deliberations, we 55dealt with the future dividend policy. Furthermore, the Adhoc Committee provided us with 56comprehensive insights regarding the ongoing ESG matters, the respective status and the 57planned further courses of action. The Joint Committee informed the Supervisory Board of its 58most recent meeting regarding the proposal for variable Executive Board compensation for 592022. We also looked at the format for the 2023 Annual General Meeting and decided that it 60should be held virtually. With the support of the Nomination Committee, we dealt with the 61results of the Supervisory Board’s self-assessment conducted with the assistance of an 62independent advisor and defined our priorities, measures and focus areas for the fiscal year 632023. In deep dive sessions, we addressed follow-up topics from our Strategy Offsite, 64including ESG Governance and other governance matters as well as the status of selected 65internal projects and deliberated on underlying risks and regulatory requirements. In addition, 66the Executive Board reported on the year-end process, the outlook for 2023, various strategic 67initiatives, organisational changes and the Executive Board Scorecard as well as 68developments in the Investment, Product and Client Coverage Divisions.69On 13 March 2023, we held an extraordinary meeting to review the 2022 Annual Financial 70Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements as well as the integrated Non-Financial 71Statement for 2022 and the Dependency Report as prepared by the Executive Board. 72A special focus in this regard was on ESG-related aspects. Based on the recommendation of 73         74To our 75Shareholders76Summarised 77Management Report78Consolidated 79Financial Statements80Compensation 81Report82Corporate Govern-83ance Statement84Supplementary 85Information DWS 2023 Annual Report86 87Report of the Supervisory Board88VI