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Deutsche Bank headquarters: highest pre-tax profit in 16 years

Photo: Arne Dedert/dpa

Deutsche Bank made less profit last year due, among other things, to an increased tax rate, but its figures exceeded expectations. The bottom line was a net profit of 4.21 billion euros in 2023 - a decline of 16 percent compared to 2022, as Germany's largest institute announced on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main. Analysts on average had only expected 3.66 billion euros.

This means that Deutsche Bank has now made a profit for the fourth year in a row. The pre-tax result increased by two percent to 5.7 billion euros compared to 2022, and sales amounted to 28.9 billion euros - an increase of six percent. Shareholders are to receive a dividend of 45 euro cents per share after 30 euro cents in the previous year. A dividend of one euro is targeted for 2025.

“Our annual results underline the strength of our strategy as a global house bank, with which we support our customers even in an uncertain environment,” said Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing. »We achieved the highest pre-tax profit in 16 years, grew faster than planned and maintained our focus on cost discipline despite important investments.«

However, it cannot be said that everything went smoothly. An IT change at the group's own Postbank resulted in tons of customer complaints. Many customers were temporarily unable to access accounts or had to deal with delays in real estate loans. The financial regulator Bafin sent a special supervisor to the bank. Contrary to what Sewing promised in the fall, not all problems had been resolved by the end of the year.

Not everything went smoothly

There were also difficulties in converting the DWS computer systems. The fund company wants to break away from its parent company in many administrative processes - as long as it can do it itself and cheaper. But the original plans for this turned out to be too optimistic. DWS boss Stefan Hoops expects that DWS will have “another year with significant IT setup costs” in 2024.

Sewing was confident that it would achieve the announced goals for 2025. The income should then reach around 32 billion euros. The target for average annual growth from 2021 to 2025 was increased from 3.5 to 4.5 percent to 5.5 to 6.5 percent.

mik/Reuters/dpa-AFX