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Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christian Sewing says showing skeptical analysts he can hit revenue targets is the lender’s next big challenge after convincing the market on cost and capital goals.
Speaking at a conference in Frankfurt, Sewing re-affirmed a target of making a pretax profit this year, even though the bank is expected to make a loss of 463 million euros ($549 million), according to consensus forecasts. He said analysts have come to believe the bank will hit cost targets and they’ve also stopped asking “the capital question.†He’s now setting out to convince them his revenue plans are realistic too.
Sewing last year kicked off a four-year restructuring plan aimed at boosting profitability by slashing costs while growing revenue. But none of the analysts following the Frankfurt-based bank believes he will meet his 2022 targets for profitability or revenue.
Still, revenue forecasts for Deutsche Bank have been rising this year after the lender experienced a trading boom during the first half of the year because of unprecedented market volatility and record debt issuance. Sewing has said he expects that trading boom to level off in the second half.
Deutsche Bank is working on measures to offset the impact on revenue from euro area interest rates that are now expected to stay negative for even longer as the pandemic has hit the economic outlook, Sewing said. He cited the lending and securities business as examples.