Friedrich von Metzler — a Frankfurt banker

Metzler Bank mourns the loss of Friedrich von Metzler, who passed away on November 17 at the age of 81 surrounded by his family. With his integrity and entrepreneurial skills, Friedrich von Metzler shaped Metzler Bank for more than five decades and made a significant contribu-tion to the bank’s success. As a financial expert and committed philanthropist, he was a well-known and respected figure both within and outside the world of finance. His tireless com-mitment to society as well as his entrepreneurial vision for the bank and for Frankfurt, Germa-ny’s leading financial center, have left a lasting impression far beyond the city boundaries of Frankfurt. 

Friedrich von Metzler, a Frankfurt banker in the eleventh generation, was born in Dresden on April 23, 1943. After the war ended, he came to a destroyed Frankfurt with his parents and sis-ter Barbara. He grew up on the sixth floor of the reconstructed bank at Grosse Gallusstrasse 18. He was closely associated with the bank from an early age and developed a keen interest in capital markets and economic issues as a teenager. After graduating from high school in 1962, he completed training as a foreign trade clerk at Münchmeyer & Co. in Hamburg and spent the next six years learning about the international capital market business at banks in London, New York, Paris and Duesseldorf. 

He joined Metzler Bank in 1969 and became a personally liable partner in 1971, together with his cousin Christoph von Metzler, who died in 1993. Alongside his cousin, he made a decisive contribution to shaping the bank for the future. Learning from the bank’s 350-year history, his far-sighted, strategic way of thinking was part of his entrepreneurial DNA. When capital market business in Germany started to gain momentum in the 1970s, Metzler Bank was able to make targeted use of its traditional expertise and grow rapidly with the market under Friedrich von Metzler’s leadership. Today, around 800 employees manage the equities, bonds and foreign exchange business and provide advice on takeovers, mergers, fund investments and asset management.

With foresight, Friedrich von Metzler set the course for the future of the bank and passed the baton on to the twelfth generation several years ago. His daughter Elena worked in the Private Banking division for many years and joined the bank's Supervisory Board in 2022. His son Franz has also worked at the bank for many years; he is responsible for the Asset Management division and became a member of the Executive Board in January of 2023. 

In 2018, Friedrich von Metzler handed over the operational management of the bank, but remained closely associated with the bank. He traveled tirelessly, visiting clients and promoting equities as a form of investment. It was important to him to raise public awareness of the bene-fits of equities for retirement provision. His constant plea was based in no small part on his own experience. The fact that the bank still exists today is also thanks to the regular and disciplined investments in equities made by Friedrich von Metzler's ancestors. This focus on equities has made a decisive contribution to the bank’s survival of several severe economic crises and two world wars in the 20th century.

Friedrich von Metzler always strove to actively shape things. This was true not only for cultural and socio-political issues, but also for financial policy matters. A passion for equities and the stock exchange was in Friedrich von Metzler's blood. Like his father before him, he was com-mitted to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which developed considerably under his leadership. Under his aegis as President, cash and derivatives markets, custody, settlement and IT were bundled in one company in 1992 and the Deutsche Börse AG was newly founded. This pro-cess was key to Frankfurt becoming one of the world’s most important international financial centers.

With great pleasure and dedication, and in line with the tradition of his ancestors, Friedrich von Metzler also displayed a strong social commitment to his home town of Frankfurt/Main. Social responsibility and empathy shaped his actions well beyond the banking industry. “As a banker, you have to be a philanthropist and take the principles of the honorable businessman to heart,” FM, as he was known throughout the bank, always said with conviction. 

His words were followed by deeds. In 1998, he established the Albert and Barbara von Metzler Foundation, which primarily supports projects for children and young people. His voluntary work has inspired the bank's employees, and since then the von Metzler family and bank em-ployees have been committed to promoting the arts, culture, science and research.

Friedrich von Metzler worked selflessly for the common good on numerous supervisory boards, advisory boards and executive committees of charitable, mainly cultural institutions. For exam-ple, he was Deputy Chairman of the administration of the Senckenberg Foundation, a member of the board at Bürgerhospital Frankfurt am Main e.V., a member of the administrative board at Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, a member of the administrative committee of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, on the board at Kunstgewerbeverein in Frankfurt e.V. and a member of the board of trustees of the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte e.V.

Friedrich von Metzler has received many awards and honors for his social commitment. In 2003, he received the Federal Cross of Merit first Class and was made an honorary citizen of Frankfurt/Main in 2004. Together with his wife Sylvia, he received the Georg August Zinn Medal of the State of Hesse in 2011 and the Maecenas Award of the Arbeitskreis selbstständiger Kultur-Institute e.V. in 2012. The Handelsblatt and Manager Magazin added Friedrich von Metzler to their “Hall of Fame” in 2014. In 2017, he was awarded the German Founder's Prize in the “Lifetime Achievement” category. In 2018, he became an honorary professor of the state of Hesse, and in 2019, Deutsches Aktieninstitut awarded him the Meritum Prize for his life's work.

“With his extraordinary commitment, vision and social responsibility, Friedrich von Metzler leaves a gap in the German banking and cultural landscape,” says Wolfgang Kirsch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Aktiengesellschaft. “He was a passion-ate banker, a citizen by conviction and a Frankfurter through and through. His legacy will live on in the work of Metzler Bank, and his social commitment to the city of Frankfurt and beyond will remain alive in numerous initiatives and institutions.”