Frankfurt (Germany) (AFP) – Deutsche Bank on Thursday reported its highest second-quarter profit since 2007 and said it was on track to meet annual targets, sending shares in Germany’s biggest lender soaring. From April to June, net profit attributable to the group’s shareholders came in at 1.48 billion euros ($1.74 billion), driven by its investment banking and asset management units. Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had expected a figure of 1.34 billion euros. In the same quarter last year, Deutsche Bank had booked its first quarterly loss since 2020 due to litigation costs linked to the troubled takeover of a smaller lender.
Thursday’s result “puts us on track to meet our 2025 targets,” said CEO Christian Sewing. The group is aiming to substantially cut costs this year and said its results so far showed it was achieving this. The bank’s shares jumped around six percent in early trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Revenues rose to 7.8 billion euros in the second quarter, with increases of three percent at its investment banking unit and nine percent at its asset management division. The retail banking division saw revenues increase by two percent. The unit is undergoing a restructuring, and Sewing announced in March that 2,000 jobs would be cut at the division.
Corporate banking revenues were down by one percent, affected by exchange rate fluctuations. The euro has risen strongly this year against the dollar, impacting Deutsche Bank as it converts money earned in the US unit back into euros. Deutsche Bank has undergone major restructuring in recent years, seeking to rely more on retail and corporate banking after an aggressive shift in the early 2000s into investment banking drew it into multiple scandals.
© 2024 AFP
