Germany’s top lender Deutsche Bank on Wednesday reported record second-quarter profit, boosted by a strong performance at its investment bank.
Net profit for the three months to June came in at 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion), Deutsche Bank said, well above analyst expectations of 1.4 billion euros in a FactSet analyst poll.
Speaking on an earnings call, Deutsche Bank finance boss Raja Akram said the result raised the prospect of the bank exceeding expectations for the year.
“We’re going to be comfortably getting into our revenue target for the year,” he said.
“If the tailwinds persist, then obviously it could be slightly more optimistic than just essentially comfortably getting to 33 billion euros.”
Asked about the impact of Italy’s UniCredit potentially completing its hostile takeover of Germany’s Commerzbank — a saga that has gripped Germany and led Commerzbank to cut thousands of jobs in a bid to fend off the move — Akram said the ongoing battle could help Deutsche if clients moved their money away from the consolidated bank to keep their accounts diversified.
“This transaction, whether it happens or doesn’t happen, it doesn’t change our strategy,” he said.
“But clearly, if clients have a need for another corporate bank, especially in Germany, who best to serve that need than Deutsche Bank?”
The result came despite the Frankfurt-based group navigating a less favourable monetary environment following the peak of the interest rate hiking cycle.
While the European Central Bank raised rates by 0.25 percentage points last month, banks’ interest margins are still weighed down by a rate-cutting cycle that began in 2024.
Overall, total revenue from April to June rose nine percent year-on-year to 8.48 billion euros, driven by retail banking and a standout performance from the investment bank.
Profit at the investment bank rose almost 60 percent on the same period last year, driven by income gains across financing, trading and advisory operations.
The performance mirrors that of major US banking giants, which have similarly benefited from intense trading amid stock market volatility and hopes and fears linked to the buildout of AI infrastructure and services.
Swiss mega-bank UBS on Wednesday separately said profit at its investment bank had more than doubled, with gains driven by equities trading.
Deutsche Bank also announced a new 500-million-euro share buyback programme for the second half of the year, following the completion of its current one-billion-euro tranche.
Deutsche Bank shares were up 4.7 percent in Frankfurt as of 0845 GMT.