FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Deutsche Bank swung to a better-than-expected second-quarter profit despite a decline in investment banking revenue and some unexpected costs, figures on Wednesday showed.
Net profit attributable to shareholders was 692 million euros ($817.9 million), compared with a loss of 77 million a year earlier. That was better than analyst expectations for a profit of 372 million euros.
It was the fourth consecutive quarter of profit, the bank’s longest streak in the black since 2012.
The profit figures are good news for Chief Executive Christian Sewing, who launched a major restructuring in 2019 that involved shedding 18,000 staff in the hopes of returning the bank to profitability.
“Our priority now is to continue with our disciplined execution of transformation, quarter by quarter,” Sewing said in a statement.
The bank abandoned a key target, an aim of reducing costs to 16.7 billion euros by 2022. The move follows a number of unexpected costs that the bank had flagged in recent months.
The bank will now focus on cost-to-income ratio. Sewing said he was committed to a 70% cost income ratio target.
($1 = 0.8460 euros)
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Patricia Uhlig, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Maria Sheahan)
