FRANKFURT: Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) posted an 832 million euro ($924 million) third-quarter loss on Wednesday, hurt by restructuring costs and weakness in fixed income trading, sending shares in Germany’s biggest lender down more than 7%.
The bank in July had flagged a loss this year and announced restructuring plans worth $7.4 billion, including the elimination of 18,000 jobs.
The quarterly loss follows one of 3.15 billion euros in the second quarter and contrasts with a 229 million euro net profit a year earlier. The bank is aiming to break even in 2020, but analysts are concerned about the bank’s ability to generate revenue.
CEO Christian Sewing noted the bank’s four core divisions posted a pretax profit. “These quarterly results are just an interim assessment, but they are encouraging,” Sewing wrote to staff.
Deutsche Bank, founded in 1870, is considered one of the most important banks for the global financial system, along with JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup.
But it has faced a stream of losses and scandal, prompting it to embark on one of the biggest overhauls to an investment bank since the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Of its planned 18,000 job cuts, Deutsche eliminated 1,500 in the third quarter though the number of employees in its investment bank rose as an intake of new graduates offset staff cuts in equity trading.
The bank said that revenue at its private bank, which focuses on retail clients and Germany and is the bank’s largest division, would be “slightly lower” in 2019, due to lower interest rates. That is a downgrade from earlier expectations for little change from 2018.
Deutsche highlighted some progress in winding down 74 billion euros of risk-weighted assets, a pillar of its restructuring plan. —Reuters
