In Frankfurt, in front of the headquarters of Deutsche Bank, a sculpture commemorating Gutenberg recalls the durability of the information. – John McDougall – AFP
Shares in Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank slid around 6.0 percent Wednesday, after its finance chief warned of first-quarter headwinds for its corporate and investment banking division.
“We do have a headwind in a year-on-year comparison, before you get to business performance, of about 450 million” euros ($515 million), chief financial officer James von Moltke said at a London banking conference.
With some 40 percent of its business “either dollar-denominated or linked to the dollar,” the unit would suffer a 300-million-euro blow from currency effects, he said.
One euro is worth around $1.22 at present, compared with around $1.06 at the end of March 2017 — sapping the value of earnings in the greenback on Deutsche’s books.
Read Also:
Meanwhile increased funding costs would add a further burden of 150 million euros, von Moltke said.
Shares in Deutsche Bank lost 5.6 percent in Frankfurt on the comments to trade at 11.95 euros by 1425 GMT, making them by far the worst performers on the DAX index of blue-chip German stocks.
Von Moltke said performance at the corporate and investment division was “depending on the business, flat to slightly down from last year,” although it was unclear whether he was referring to revenues or profits.
However, he noted that increased volatility on financial markets made for a “generally constructive environment” for the bank.
Deutsche said last week that it made a much higher loss than initially reported in 2017, at 751 million euros compared with the 512 million previously announced.
The bank, which is in the throes of a tough restructuring and mired in costly legal cases, last month blamed 2017’s poor performance on corporate tax reforms in the United States.
It added that it made a pre-tax profit of 1.2 billion euros, its first time in the black by that measure since 2014.
Source: G Business
