Deutsche Bank slashes jobs as second-quarter profit falls

Deutsche Bank said it was on track to cut more than 7,000 jobs by 2020 as profit fell in line with expectations in the second quarter.

Pre-tax profit for the three months to the end of June fell 13% to €711m (£632m) and net income dropped 14% to €401m. Net revenue was little changed at €6.6bn.

Profit was in line with guidance the bank issued in a trading update on 16 July that outstripped previous forecasts. The surprise statement was a boost for new chief executive Christian Sewing and a rare piece of good news for the bank after three years of losses.

Non-interest costs rose 1% to €5.8bn as restructuring costs more than doubled to €239m. Sewing is cutting deeper into Deutsche’s bloated investment bank to restore the fortunes of Germany’s biggest lender.

Sewing, who previously ran Deutsche’s retail bank, cut 1,700 jobs in the second quarter, up from 400 reductions in the first quarter. At the end of June the bank employed 95,429 people and Sewing wants to get that number below 90,000 by the end of 2019.

Sewing said: "In the second quarter we accelerated the reshaping of our bank significantly and proved the resilience of our global business. We’re making important changes to our core businesses as promised, we’re headed in the right direction on costs, and our balance sheet quality is strong."

Pre-tax profit at the corporate and investment bank fell to €475m from €611m a year earlier. At the private and commercial banking unit, meanwhile, profit fell to €262m from €338m.

At 1435 BST, the shares were down 1.3% to €10.32.