In recent years, the mere mention of Deutsche Bank’s wholesale business has been enough to elicit a titter from rival bosses. They assumed that Chief Executive Christian Sewing’s 2019 decision to shrink the unit and scrap businesses like equities trading would prompt a client exodus. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Sewing revealed on Thursday that Deutsche’s investment banking division generated 1.9 billion euros of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020. That was 24% higher than a year earlier, more than double the year-on-year increase reported by American rivals including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Deutsche’s fixed-income and currency trading operations now account for about three-quarters of the unit’s income, with debt underwriting bringing in almost a fifth. Fees from equity offerings and advising on mergers contributed a token amount. Meanwhile costs for the full year, excluding restructuring and legal charges, were about one-tenth lower than in 2019.
-REUTERS