Deutsche Bank CEO calls 2025 a 'year of reckoning'

Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing on Thursday called 2025 a "year of reckoning" for Germany's largest bank as it faces a deadline to meet ambitious targets on costs and profitability.

The bank's management and investors were facing off at Deutsche's annual general meeting as the bank enters the final stretch of its three-year plan which ends this year.

"We know how important 2025 is for us as a bank. It is the year of reckoning," Sewing told shareholders.


Among the targets, Deutsche Bank is aiming for a cost-to-income ratio of less than 65% and a so-called return on tangible equity - a key measure of profitability - of more than 10%.

Analysts believe the bank will miss both, based on a consensus forecast published this week by Deutsche.

But Sewing said the bank was "clearly on track" to meet the goals.

Sewing is in the process of tweaking the bank's strategy and formulating targets for next year and beyond. Deutsche Bank's first-quarter profits increased 39% thanks to a strong performance from its investment bank.

But some shareholders want the bank to rely less on volatile investment banking and focus on more stable business lines such as consumer and corporate banking.

Andreas Thomae of Deutsche Bank shareholder Deka Investment, due to speak at the meeting on Thursday, is expected to call on the bank to ensure a bigger share of profits comes from stable business areas like the retail bank.

As part of an overhaul in 2019, Deutsche Bank set out to rely less on revenue from the investment bank, but the results have been mixed.

"You must finally deliver what you have been promising us for years," Thomae will say, according to an advance copy of his remarks.