Deutsche Bank confirms 2022 outlook on back of strong quarter

Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank saw its net profit increase year-on-year in the third quarter, confirming its expectations for the coming year as it undergoes signficant structural changes.

The group booked a net profit of 194 million euros ($225 million) between July and September, a seven percent increase on the same period last year.

“In the third quarter, we again demonstrated the operating strength of our business,” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said in a statement.

The bank’s revenues were up two percent in the quarter to 6.04 billion euros, despite a six-percent fall in receipts in investment banking.

Following its withdrawal from equities trading, the branch drew almost three quarters of its revenues from fixed income and currency trading.

Business in this area, however, declined by 12 percent, a value lower than that seen at competitors as the market “normalises”, Deutsche Bank chief financial officer James von Moltke said in a conference call.

Private banking activities, generally considered to be more stable, continued to struggle against historically low interest rates with revenues down two percent, while asset management revenues were up 17 percent.

Over nine months, a net profit of 1.8 billion euros makes it highly likely that the bank will be in the black at year’s end for the second time running, after six consecutive years of losses.

Deutsche Bank’s pre-tax profit rose by 15 percent to 554 million euros in the third quarter, despite significant transformation costs, totalling 583 million euros.

The group is in the midst of a painful restructuring that includes shedding 18,000 jobs between 2019 and 2022 to reduce the number of employees globally to 74,000.

Deutsche Bank had around 84,500 employees at the end of September, around 2,500 fewer than a year ago.

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