Deutsche Bank targets at risk as legal costs drag down results

Germany's biggest bank has warned that it might not reach its 2020 performance goals if it has to continue to make large payments becuase of regulatory fines and settlements.

31 July 2015

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Announcing a Q2 pretax profit figure of US$1.31b, it announced legal costs of exactly the same amount. But it warns that aims to push up return on tangible equity investment from 5.7% now to 10% by 2020 could be jeopardised if regulatory issues continue as they at present.

Heavy litigation charges

The bank has paid US$9.8b in fines and settlements with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic in the last last three years. Announcing the Q2 results, John Cryan, co-chief executive, said: 'Our challenges are...evident in the unacceptably high level of our costs, our continuing burden of heavy litigation charges, a balance sheet that must be more efficient, and the poor overall returns to our shareholders.'

Source: Business Report