A Deutsche Bank AG flag flies out of the company’s Wall Street office in New York.
Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Deutsche Bank on Thursday exceeded earnings expectations for 2020 as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis, driven by strong performance in its banking investment division.
Germany’s largest creditor posted a year-over-year net profit of 113 million euros ($ 135.7 million), while analysts expected a loss of 201 million euros, according to Refinitiv. Deutsche reported a loss of 5.7 billion euros for 2019, as it underwent a major restructuring.
The bank made a profit of 51 million euros for the fourth quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of a loss of 325 million euros.
The bank’s chief financial officer, James von Moltke, told CNBC shortly after the announcement that it had met all its targets for that year.
Higher revenues and cost reductions have helped Deutsche Bank Investment Division perform well, with net revenues rising 32% to 9.8 billion euros in 2020.
This “offset more than an increase in the provision for credit losses resulting from COVID-19,” the bank said in a statement.
Here are the other important moments:
- Total net income for the fourth quarter was 5.5 billion euros, compared to 5.35 billion euros for the same period in 2019, bringing the group’s net income for that year to 24 billion euros, up 4% compared to 2019.
- The Tier 1 equity ratio (CET1) – a measure of the bank’s solvency – reached 13.6%, unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2019.
- Provisions for the loss of loans in the fourth quarter were 251 million, compared to 723 million in the last quarter of 2019.
“In the most important year of our transformation, we were able to offset more than the transformation effects and increased credit provisions – despite the global pandemic,” CEO Christian Sewing said in the earnings report.
“We have built a solid foundation for sustainable profitability and we are confident that this overall positive trend will continue in 2021, despite these difficult times.”
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