Data released by Deutsche Bank shows that the lender lifted its litigation spend from €55.5m to €55.9m in the three months to 30 September this year. The increase follows research published by Thomson Reuters earlier this month which found an intense upward pressure on legal costs at FTSE 100 companies, with total legal provisions lifting 22 per cent to £31.1bn last year for the group. Within the FTSE 100, 56 per cent of the total legal provision is accounted for by companies in the banking sector.

Defying expectations

Despite mounting regulatory and legal pressures, Deutsche Bank has managed to scrape together net income of €278m and a pre-tax profit of €619m. Analysts were originally predicting that the bank would struggle to turn a profit this quarter after Deutsche Bank chief executive John Cryan’s failure to renegotiate a $14bn fine with the US Department of Justice triggered turbulence in the bank’s share price. The current profit result, though slim, is a considerable improvement on the €6bn loss reported by Deutsche Bank for the same quarter later year.

Sources: Legal Business; Wall Street Journal