Deutsche Bank's costs have once again got out of hand, and profits after tax fell by 28% to 3.5 billion euros in 2024, below the average analysts forecasts of 3.7 billion euros. Provisions for legal risks also had a sizeable negative impact, and Deutsche Bank probably exhausted the scope to book any more charges in the last year of transformation. For Group CEO Christian Sewing, 2025 is the year by which he and his management team want to be measured – and the year in which Deutsche Bank wants to prove that it can achieve the goals it formulated five years ago.

Specifically, it is about the after-tax return on tangible equity (RoTE) of at least 10%. Given the 4.7% that Deutsche Bank has reported for 2024, this is quite ambitious. The creative key figure „before costs for specific legal cases“, which is used when presenting the figures in order to get closer to double digits at 7.1%, does little to change this.

As it is sticking to its previous revenue forecast of 32 billion euros, it will have to make further improvements to its cost structure. According to Sewing, the bank will present a new efficiency programme this year. Working title: Deutsche Bank 3.0.

Despite all the justified criticism of its failure to achieve its cost targets, Deutsche Bank must be given credit for the fact that the group's reorganisation took place at a time of historic upheaval. Neither the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor the rapid return of inflation and the consequences of monetary policy could have been on the management's radar. It is not surprising that this had to lead to cutbacks in key figures here and there.

The new programme will not be a new reorganisation, but rather business management fine tuning. And change is not just reflected in the key figures. Sewing's clear commitment to sustainability and diversity shows just how much Deutsche Bank, once so orientated towards its Wall Street competitors, has changed. Withdrawing from global climate protection agreements, as BlackRock has done, is out of the question for him. Sustainability has long since become far too important economically. It also currently offers great opportunities for European banks in particular.

Sewing also rejects a fundamental change of direction with regard to the promotion of diversity in management, which is increasingly being called into question in the USA. It is true that in the USA, as in all markets, the legal situation must be examined. However, the CEO wants to continue to promote diversity, primarily out of self-interest. This has contributed significantly to the success of the business in recent years.