FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) posted a pretax loss of 1.15 billion euros (1 billion pounds) in its investment bank in the fourth quarter as revenues in its cash cow bond trading activities slumped and litigation costs weighed on earnings.
Revenues at the investment bank were down 30 percent in the quarter, as the bank coped with tough market conditions, Germany’s flagship lender said on Thursday.
Like other investment banks, Deutsche Bank struggled with near-zero interest rates, a slump in oil prices and investor cautiousness due to worries about slowing growth in China, but analysts have said Deutsche’s revenue performance appeared weaker than that of its U.S. peers.
Deutsche Bank’s final results showed it posted a full-year loss of 6.8 billion euros and of 2.1 billion euros in the fourth quarter, mainly due to writedowns, litigation charges and restructuring costs.
By contrast, lower costs helped peers like Citi (C.N), Bank of America (BAC.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) report fourth quarter profit increases in recent days.
Deutsche Bank warned investors to expect more pain: 2016 will be the peak restructuring year, it said in a presentation.
Restructuring and severance charges will reach about 1 billion euros in 2016 and litigation costs are to stay high, albeit below the 2015 level, it added.
Deutsche Bank staff are bracing for pay cuts as bonus pots for individual divisions are being cut by at least 25 to 30 percent, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
In October, Deutsche Bank announced a restructuring of its business, splitting its investment bank in two and parting ways with some of its top bankers.
Its share price has fallen by nearly 37 percent since Cryan took the helm on July 1, promising simultaneously to overhaul Deutsche to meet tighter banking rules and to end costly litigation from past scandals.
The shares were indicated to drop 1.3 percent, according to pre-market data at brokerage Lang & Schwarz, while the German blue-chip index (.GDAXI) was seen down 1.1 percent.
($ 1 = 0.9196 euros)
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze and Jonathan Gould; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
