Deutsche Bank CEO Sewing vows to keep expenses in check

DEUTSCHE Bank chief executive officer Christian Sewing vowed to meet previous cost targets, saying he’s working on additional measures.

The German lender will hit a goal of keeping expenses at 5 billion euros (S$7.27 billion) in the first quarter and the full-year figures will be around 20 billion euros, Sewing said at an investor conference hosted by Morgan Stanley on Tuesday (Mar 12).

The current analyst consensus sees 5.3 billion euros in total non-interest expenses for the first quarter and 20.9 billion euros for the full year. Shares extended gains and were trading 4.72 per cent higher at 12.42 am in Frankfurt.

The comments come a little over a month after Deutsche Bank announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs over the coming years in an effort to keep costs in check. The lender has promised to achieve 2.5 billion euros in savings.

Sewing is stepping up efforts to lift a share price that has largely treaded water since he took over. After benefiting from rising interest rates over the past year, he now has to contend with a slowdown in trading, high inflation and investments to fix flawed controls.

Fixed-income trading revenue may see an increase in the first quarter, Sewing also said at the Morgan Stanley conference. BLOOMBERG