Deutsche Bank has published its annual report for the year ended December 31, 2018, where the troubled German firm has pledged to reverse declining revenue as the bank yet again reported disappointing results.
Taking a look at the report, the company stated that revenue in 2019 should be “slightly” higher than that achieved in 2018, which was €25.32 billion, down by 4.3 percent from 2017. This is assuming “solid” economic growth, the report said.
Furthermore, the German bank is also working towards a four percent return on tangible equity. However, this will largely depend on market conditions, which the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Deutsche warned has so far this year not been as solid as initially expected.
“Market conditions have improved as compared to those experienced in the fourth quarter of 2018. However, they are somewhat weaker than we had anticipated. We aim to achieve our other key performance indicators over time, consistent with becoming a simpler and safer bank,” said Christian Sewing, the CEO of Deutsche Bank.
The German company is not alone in this matter. Societe Generale has previously warned that it expects lower profits for its markets business, whereas executives from both Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have told the market to expect weaker trading revenues from a year ago.
According to a report from Bloomberg, analysts polled by Deutsche Bank are skeptical that Sewing can meet his targets, with the consensus forecast estimating that the firm will report a decline in revenue and a return on tangible equity of 1.2 percent in 2019.
Deutsche Bank Merger with Commerzbank Looking Increasingly Necessary
The report which was published today comes as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are facing a possible merger. As Finance Magnates reported, Sewing believes that a merger between the two rival banks could be an ultimately beneficial move.
According to a report from Reuters, which cites a source with knowledge on the matter, Deutsche’s CEO believes that the merger could produce multiple benefits, with one of them being a “clear” dominance of the German market. Other benefits include scale and shared technology costs, the source said.
So far, however, the possible merger has received strong pushback from unionists, as it could result in up to 30,000 job losses. However, regardless of the merger, Deutsche Bank will be cutting jobs, the source said.
