KfW Board of Supervisory Directors appoints Brigitte Réthier as Member of the Executive Board of KfW Group

The KfW Board of Supervisory Directors has appointed Brigitte Réthier (56) to the Executive Board of KfW Group for a four-year term with effect from 1 July 2026 at the earliest, but no later than 1 October 2026. This was stated by the Chair of the KfW Board of Supervisory Directors, Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, and the Vice-Chair, Lars Klingbeil, Federal Minister of Finance, following the KfW Board of Supervisory Directors meeting on 26 March 2026.

Brigitte Réthier is to take responsibility for the international financial cooperation business area. This includes KfW Development Bank, which is responsible for international financial cooperation with developing countries and emerging economies, and the KfW subsidiary DEG - Deutsche Entwicklungs- und Investitionsgesellschaft, which finances investments by private companies in developing countries and emerging economies.

In this capacity, Brigitte Réthier succeeds Christiane Laibach, who is retiring after 36 years at KfW Group. The export and project finance business sector, which remains with the subsidiary KfW IPEX-Bank, is to become part of a newly designed executive unit in the portfolio of Melanie Kehr.

Under this structure, KfW’s domestic promotional activities and the competitive business of its subsidiary KfW IPEX-Bank – which remains separate from the latter – will be managed by a single Executive Board member. This is intended to take even greater account of the current challenges facing the German economy.

Brigitte Réthier is currently Head of Institutional Clients & Transaction Banking Sales at Commerzbank and has more than three decades of experience in international banking. She began her career in the early 1990s at the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto. In 1995, she moved to Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt, where she took over various management functions in investment banking and loan portfolio management. After the integration of Dresdner Bank into Commerzbank, she held several senior positions there and is currently Divisional Board Member responsible for the support of institutional customers and sales in transaction banking worldwide.

Stefan B. Wintels, CEO of KfW, said:

"I am delighted that Brigitte Réthier will be enriching the KfW Executive Board in the future with her comprehensive expertise in the field of international financing and her broad network. With her proven experience as an internationally active banker, she will contribute to further expanding KfW’s global partnerships in Germany’s interest. At the same time, a few months before her official farewell, I would like to thank Christiane Laibach already today for her many years of commitment to KfW and the excellent and trusting cooperation on the board."

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