PDF Download - Deutsche Bahn AG

|
mANAGEmENT rEPOrT
Regulatory and political risks
Changes in the overall legal conditions at national or European
level could result in risks for our business. DB Group provides
rail transport service in a regulated market. Access to the German
railway network has been available on a non-discriminatory
basis since 1994. regulatory measures also affect the individual
components of pricing systems and terms of use of our rail
infrastructure companies such as their pricing systems and
terms of use. In this area there is a risk that a complaint may
be submitted to the regulatory authorities and that they may
respond.
The structure of DB Group has potential exposure to regulatory
risks. These risks could arise on both the national as well
as the European level.
Political risks refer to, in particular, the tightening of existing
norms and rules that apply to railway activities.
Personnel risks
Our employees and their skills are of central importance for our
future success. Our remuneration systems and personnel development
programs and measures are aimed at enhancing the
loyalty of our employees and motivating them to turn in top
performance. Unwanted staff departures remain at a consistently
low level. This, on the one hand, reflects our efforts to raise the
commitment and identification of employees with the Group.
On the other hand, it shows our attractiveness as an employer.
Furthermore, we are faced with increasing competition for highly
qualified specialists and executives. Among other measures we
are taking, we are meeting this challenge by maintaining close
contacts with universities, and through our recruiting measures.
During the integration period for newly acquired companies we
concentrate our efforts on raising the loyalty of employees in
key positions.
In order to assert ourselves in competition, the structure
of our personnel expenses in comparison to our competitors is
of decisive importance. Additional one-sided burdens, such as
higher wage agreements than those negotiated by our competitors,
worsen our competitive position. In the future, the
conclusion of sector-wide wage agreements will set uniform
standards for the German regional transport market.
| [1] A 2010 Annual Report DB Group Page 40 f.
Compliance risks
The restructuring of our Compliance department in 2009 documented
that we are committed to ensuring that every DB Group
employee views the full observance of valid laws, corporate
guidelines and recognized regulatory standards as an assignment
and an obligation. We further expanded our Compliance
organization during the year under review to ensure behavior
that conforms to the rules. more details on this subject may be
found in the A Compliance report [1] of DB Group.
IT risks
Insufficient IT management can lead to serious interruptions of
business operations. We employ a wide range of methods and
means to minimize these risks. Ongoing monitoring of system
architecture and the regular renewal of hardware platforms
ensure that our information technology always optimally meets
changing business demands and conforms to the latest state of
technology.
In order to ensure high availability in IT operations, we use
distributed and redundant systems for operations and data backup,
fail-safe network coupling, together with partly outsourced tape
backup and separate administrations. These measures safeguard
critical business and IT processes and prevent serious breakdowns.
Our wide area network (WAN) is designed redundantly wherever
required by security and business continuity.
generaL StateMent regarDing
DB ag’S riSK SitUation
The assessment of the current risk situation is based on our risk
management system. The main risks during the year under review
were in the areas of market, production as well as technology
and procurement.
Our analysis of risks, countermeasures, hedges and provisions,
as well as the assessment made by the DB AG management
Board, has established that, based on the current assessment
of risk and our mid-term planning, there are no risks present
which either individually or in their entirety could permanently
and materially damage DB Group’s asset, financial and earnings
situation.
33