Deutsche Bank reported a ten% rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday, beating expectations amid a continued recovery in its investment banking unit.
Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.275 billion euros ($1.365 billion) within the period, beating analysts’ overall forecast of 1.23 billion euros for the period, based on LSEG data.
Deutsche Bank said this was its highest first-quarter profit since 2013. It was also the bank’s fifteenth consecutive quarterly profit.
Group revenue rose 1% year-on-year to 7.8 billion euros, which the bank attributed to growth in commission and fee income in addition to strength in fixed income and currencies. According to LSEG, the sales figures also exceeded the analyst forecast of seven.73 billion euros.
The investment bank’s revenue rose 13% to three billion euros, after a 9% slump in full-year 2023 that reduced overall profits. The performance means the division is once more Deutsche Bank’s highest-earning unit because of growth in financing and loan trading revenues.
Other first quarter highlights included:
- Net inflows of 19 billion euros within the private banking and asset management divisions.
- Loan loss provisions amounted to 439 million euros, a decrease from 488 million within the fourth quarter of 2023.
- The common equity Tier 1 capital ratio (CET1) – a measure of the bank’s solvency – was 13.4%, in comparison with 13.6% at the identical time last yr.
“There is momentum across the businesses, actually across all four businesses, and we believe it is sustainable,” James von Moltke, Deutsche Bank’s chief financial officer, told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Thursday.
“We are delivering on our cost and return on capital commitments this quarter.”
Germany’s largest lender reported a net profit of 1.3 billion euros within the previous quarter and 1.16 billion euros in the primary quarter of the previous yr.
In 2023, the bank announced it might cut 3,500 jobs over the approaching years because it seeks €2.5 billion in operational efficiencies to extend profitability and increase returns to shareholders.
