A message from Christian Sewing on Q1 results 2025

Dear Colleagues,

we have navigated some stormy seas together in recent years, but the first few months of 2025 really stand out in terms of turbulence. In a very short time, we have seen events that have the power to potentially change the world for years or decades to come, all of which led to heightened uncertainty in markets and among our clients. Against that backdrop, it is all the more remarkable how much you achieved over this period. In a very difficult environment, you remain fully committed to serving our clients: with research and outstanding market knowledge, with first-class risk management, strategic advice and the right solutions for the challenges they face. You have worked hard to show just how strong our Global Hausbank is, perfectly in line with our purpose, which puts our clients’ lasting success and financial security at the centre of all we do.

Your deep dedication is reflected in our results for the first quarter. Our revenues grew by 10 percent to 8.5 billion euros, the highest level in ten years. We increased pre-tax profit by 39 percent to 2.8 billion euros. The last time we performed better in a first quarter was back in 2011. Once again, this success stems from all four pillars of our bank: all businesses achieved a higher pre-tax profit than in the same quarter last year, with the highest gains in the Private Bank (+43 percent) and Asset Management (+67 percent), while the Investment Bank increased profit by 22 percent and the Corporate Bank by 3 percent.

These positive figures are complemented by a solid development in terms of costs, where, as expected, nonoperating costs in particular fell significantly. As a result, our cost/income ratio improved to 61.2 percent, compared with 68.2 percent in the prior year quarter. Our return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 11.9 percent in the first quarter, a good three percentage points higher than one year ago.

This strong result takes us another substantial step towards the targets we set ourselves for 2025, both in terms of RoTE and cost/income ratio. After three months, we are on track in all areas, which gives us a lot of confidence. Of course, macroeconomic uncertainties have increased. The shadow of a potential global trade war still looms over the markets. And while we are hopeful that there will be no escalation, uncertainty and volatility are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.

As we enter this challenging phase for the global economy, our foundations are particularly solid; our loan book is of high quality, with more than three-quarters of our loans in comparatively low-risk areas, and the proportion of secured or guaranteed loans at roughly the same level. In the first quarter, we were able to reduce our provisions for non-performing loans as predicted, by almost 30 percent year-on-year. We expect this trend to continue in the coming quarters. At the same time, we have taken additional provisions to cover higher macroeconomic uncertainties caused by the tariff discussions and, as a result, our overall provisions were higher year-on-year.

On the revenue side, the current environment does not just bring challenges; on the contrary. In many business areas, it is precisely now that our clients rely most on our support. We are what they are looking for when it comes to protecting them from risks and safely navigating this difficult period. We have everything it takes to do so: a strong capital and liquidity base to support our clients, a valuable network and technology platform and, most importantly, the necessary relationship and expertise. It is at times like these, when we can really play to our strengths as a Global Hausbank and build long-term, trusting partnerships with our clients.

The very positive feedback we receive from our clients shows just how well we are doing here. This well-deserved recognition for all your tremendous effort encourages us to build on these achievements. All over the world, we are seeing growing demand; I have often said that international clients are looking for a European alternative to US banks, a trend that has accelerated noticeably in recent weeks.

Our vision of becoming the European champion is becoming more and more relevant. And the prospects of us achieving this vision are continuously improving. This holds even truer now that the governments in our European home market are more willing than ever to take responsibility for the security and competitiveness of the continent. Significant investments will be needed, partly publicly funded, but above all via private capital. And who would be in a better position than us to help global investors access the investment opportunities in Europe?

We are working hard to be able to support our clients in the best possible way. We are constantly reviewing business processes and how we allocate resources. This will be particularly important to be able to react flexibly to the volatile environment. To do so, in the coming months and even years, we must all continually develop and work with discipline towards our goals.

We know how intense these times are for many of you, and we appreciate all your hard work for our clients and for our bank all the more for it. On behalf of the entire Management Board, a big thank you. We look forward to working together to make our bank even stronger – for our clients, for our shareholders, for all of us.

Best wishes,
Christian