Deutsche posts big Q4 2016 losses
(3 February 2017 – Europe) Germany's largest lender, Deutsche Bank, posted a net loss of €1.9 billion (A$2.67 billion) in the final quarter of 2016 as legal costs for past misdeeds weighed heavily on results.
"Our strategy will not fundamentally change," chief executive John Cryan told reporters.
He added that the results meant that bank may withdraw from additional markets and client groups, however ruled out further job cuts.
"Our expectation is that we will be profitable this year," he said.
Finance chief Marcus Schenck said the bank would decide on the future of Postbank after overhauling it during the course of this year, while Cryan added he had nothing to announce at the moment regarding the asset management unit.
Despite extensive restructuring and cost cutting by Cryan, that started in 2015, the bank was labeled last year as the riskiest big global bank by the International Monetary Fund and the organisation's head, Christine Lagarde, questioned Deutsche’s business model, saying it must "decide what size it wants to have".
The lender stated that it will aim to reduce its cost base to less than €22 billion in 2018 from €24.7 billion in 2016.
The bank’s revenues from corporate and investment banking rose slightly, despite the bank missing out on advising clients on some large deals.
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