Christian Vollmuth (pictured), a managing director of the Deutscher Derivate Verband (DDV) has decided to leave Germany's structured products trade association. Vollmuth has formally requested to the board of directors that they terminate an employment contract that is due to finish on February 28, 2019. The German Derivatives Association informed its members last week that it is negotiating an early departure for Vollmuth, "in the interests of both parties".

Vollmuth was one of three managing directors at the DDV and responsible for legal matters and regulatory issues affecting the certificates industry in Germany and Europe, as well as running its Berlin office. The role involved working closely with national and international industry representatives, politicians and supervisors, leading a number of successful initiatives.

"The Fairness Code, a voluntary undertaking that came into effect in 2013 was a milestone," said Vollmuth. This followed the development of the template for the product information sheet for all categories of the DDV's product classification in 2010. "In 2016, I worked on a product intervention, the self-regulation for credit linked notes. And my last achievement is getting online brokers and direct banks on board for a working group."

Formerly employed at Deutsche Bank as a director and senior counsel, Vollmuth joined the DDV as general counsel in 2010, before being promoted to managing director on January 1, 2012. Vollmuth worked alongside fellow managing director Lars Brandau, with both reporting to Hartmut Knüppel, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.

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