Deutsche Bank profits rise as exposure to Russia trimmed

FRANKFURT: Germany’s leading lender Deutsche Bank on Wednesday reported a bump in quarterly profits as it reduced its exposure to Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Net profits at the group rose to 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) over the first three months of the year, up by 17 percent on the same period last year.

At 7.3 billion euros, global revenues were up one percent in the first quarter.

The result was carried by the bank’s investment arm, where revenues increased by seven percent to 3.3 billion euros. The increase translated into a profit of 1.5 billion euros before tax.

Revenues in the corporate banking segment also increased 11 percent to 1.5 billion euros, registering a pre-tax profit of 291 million euros.

Deutsche Bank’s priority in the first quarter had been “to enable clients to respond quickly to geopolitical events and guard against risks”, CEO Christian Sewing said in a statement, in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Activities in Russia have become a liability for businesses after Western partners hung sanctions on the country.

Over the first three months of the year Deutsche Bank said it sought to reduce its exposure to Russia, notably cutting its loan exposure in the country by five percent to 1.3 billion euros.

The bank was also seeing the impact of the strategic overhaul it decided on in July 2019, turning its focus more to Europe and withdrawing from some riskier business activities.

The bank’s restructuring involves shedding 18,000 jobs between 2019 and 2022 to reduce the number of employees globally to 74,000.

At the end of the first quarter, Deutsche Bank had accounted for 98 percent of the total 8.6 billion euros planned for the group’s restructuring through the end of 2022.