Yahoo Finance Deutsche Bank beats forecasts in strong start to 2017
Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank on Thursday reported a big boost to net profit in the first three months of 2017, with a long and painful restructuring beginning to pay off.
Profits at the group grew 143pc year-on-year to reach €575m (£487m) between January and March, significantly higher than analysts' expectations.
Deutsche achieved the increased earnings on the back of revenues around 9pc lower, at €7.3bn.
"Client engagement is strong, asset flows are returning across the bank, and activity is picking up," chief executive John Cryan said in a statement.
Deutsche reported a €1.4bn loss for the full year 2016, less painful than the bottom line the year before when it was almost €7bn in the red, but much worse than expected by analysts.
The lender was hit with a number of heavy fines, as well as battling headwinds from low interest rates, tougher banking regulation and its massive restructuring plan that will see the bank withdraw from some business areas.
In the first quarter, the CEO's restructuring brought down adjusted costs 5pc compared with the same period a year ago, with around 1,600 jobs slashed.
In home market Germany, some 130 of 188 planned branch closures have already gone ahead.
The bank's capital buffer - kept on hand to cushion the impact of financial shocks - grew slightly, to 11.9pc.
But Deutsche was able to increase its capital ratio further to 14.1pc after the end of the first quarter, raising some €8bn by issuing new shares.
While the group offered no financial forecasts for 2017, Mr Cryan told employees in an open letter on Thursday that "we can and should look forward to the rest of 2017 with a good degree of optimism".
