On 7 July Deutsche Bank (DB) announces its “most fundamental transformation in decades”. Its supervisory board meets to discuss a major restructuring that may result in 20,000 job cuts. DB has been plagued by ratings downgrades, fines and management upheavals. Its investment banking was often the culprit, while generating half DB’s revenue. DB sets out to shrink its ailing investment bank by a third, rolling back a 20-year attempt to make the top ranks of Wall Street. The plan is expected to drive Germany’s biggest lender to a net loss in 2019 and cost of €5bn. Its CEO aims to cut annual costs by €4bn by 2022, without raising more capital to finance restructuring. Not raising capital will see DB’s common equity tier one ratio fall below its current minimum target of 13% of its risk-weighted assets. A 1% point reduction of the ratio unlocks €3.5bn in capital.
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