Peter Gloystein

Peter Gloystein (born 25 November 1945 in Bremen, Germany) is a German banker and Christian Democratic Union party politician. His banking career was mainly with Commerzbank and BHF-Bank in Frankfurt. From September 2004 until May 2005 he was the Lord Mayor and Senator for Economics and Harbours, as well as Senator for Culture in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, but he resigned following an incident in which he poured champagne over a homeless person. At present he works as a business consultant.

Gloystein was born in 1945 in Bremen, Germany. After leaving school he studied Business Management at the University of Hamburg achieving his PhD in 1977 with a thesis titled "The promotion of industrial restructuring by funding instruments of the European Community", which was later published as a book entitled "Financing of industrial restructuring through the EC".

From 1971 to 1975 he worked as Scientific Lecturer at the HWWA-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung in Hamburg. Following this he moved on to investment banking at the WestLB in Düsseldorf (1975-1981). Gloystein then went on to work at the Commerzbank AG where he remained until 1999. First he was in charge of finance planning in the central department for Coordination and Planning in Frankfurt. In 1986 he moved on to be Head of the Stuttgart Branch. In 1990 he became Deputy Member of the Board and one year later Member of the Board of the Commerzbank AG. In 1999 Gloystein moved on to become Member of the Board of the BHF-Bank and at the same time Member of the Executive Committee Europe of the ING Group, Amsterdam. He became Speaker of the Board (CEO) of the BHF-Bank in 2000 in charge of Controlling, Credit-Risk Management, Law, Auditing and Corporate Communication.Gloystein resigned from the BHF and ING in 2002 as a result of differing opinions on future business strategy in the German market.

At the end of the 90s Gloystein was Member of the Board of the European Banking Association and the German Member of the Maas-Commission, which was formed by the European Commission for the technical preparation of the European Monetary Union.

In August 2004 the CDU nominated him as successor to Harmut Perschau, who had to resign due to health problems, and on 8 September 2004 he was voted in as the Lord Mayor and Senator for Economics and Harbours, as well as Senator for Culture in Bremen.

Gloystein is married with two children.

In Bremen Wine Week, on 12 May 2005, he poured a magnum of sparkling wine over Udo Oelschlaeger, a homeless man who was standing near the podium from which Mr Gloystein was speaking. Gloystein was described as laughing in the face of the crowd's boos and hisses. Mr Oelschlaeger himself did not respond with violence and simply burst into tears, asking "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Mr Gloystein was taken away by bodyguards, after attempting to offer Mr Oelschlager first his business card, followed successively by money from his pocket, his £150 Montblanc pen, a night in a luxury hotel and lastly a two-week holiday, as well as costs for washing his clothes. Mr Oelschlaeger declined these offers, responding "I don't need your money. I'm not going to be bribed. You offended me and wanted to make me look like an idiot." Mr Gloystein said that the incident had been intended as a "joke", and that he had, in fact, intended to pour the wine into Oelschlaeger's mouth, but that he had turned away. Onlookers described this as not corresponding with what they saw.

Mr Gloystein apparently later met Mr Oelschlaeger again and they parted "on friendly terms". Police confirmed that Oelschlaeger was pressing charges against Gloystein for the incident. Mr Gloystein later resigned over the incident, following pressure from the media and opposition parties.

Gloystein has returned to business. He is a business consultant with focus on finance and cultural management, until 2008 in Bremen and since then in Düsseldorf. The consultancy business (M & A) was initially based on the function as Advisory Director of the Investment Bank Lincoln International, Frankfurt/Chicago, and from 2012 as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Deutsche Mergers & Acquitions AG, Düsseldorf. He is also active in the rating business and is Member of the Advisory Board of the Rating Agency Scope, Berlin, in the internet music business as General Manager of the classical music website My Classic World GmbH, Berlin and finally as Member of the Advisory Board of the private equity company Allistro Capital GmbH, Frankfurt.

Peter Gloystein is also active in various cultural institutions: Chairman of the Board of the Association supporting the Cultural Project Hombroich, Neuss; General Manager of the Urban Planning Corporation Raumortlabor Hombroich gemeinnützige Stiftungs GmbH, Neuss; Chairman of the Friends Association of the Teatro La Fenice, Berlin and Member of the Board of the Friends Association of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf/Duisburg. Until 2009 Gloystein was also active in the Friends Association of the Bayreuth Music Festival, first as longstanding member of the Advisory Board of the Friends Association and in 2009 as Chairman of the Executive Board. He resigned from this position at the beginning of 2010.