Deutche Bank Chief Hints at Reducing Stake in Chinese Lender

Deutsche Bank AG's outgoing co-chief executive, Jü rgen Fitschen, Wednesday lauded his former co-chief Anshu Jain and confirmed the cornerstones of the bank's new strategy while fueling speculation that the bank might reduce its 20% stake in China's lender Hua Xia.

"I miss Anshu [Jain]. We had a good time working together," Mr. Fitschen, who will step down in May next year, said at a conference in Frankfurt. He added that his new partner, John Cryan, a former UBS AG finance chief, is different, but stressed that they work well together too.

Mr. Fitschen's speech was his first public appearance since June when he and Mr. Jain said they were stepping down from the helm at Germany's largest lender. Mr. Cryan took over the reins from Mr. Jain who was facing criticism from regulators and shareholders over large penalties and a weak share price.

In his speech, Mr. Fitschen also hinted that Deutsche Bank could sell its roughly 20% stake in China's lender Hua Xia, which people familiar with the matter have said is a possibility. "It is obvious that [foreign companies in general] exit minority stakes in China," Mr. Fitschen said.

He stressed, however, that the bank doesn't want to stop doing business in the country altogether.

Addressing the bank's weak profitability, Deutsche Bank announced a strategy overhaul in April that foresees €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) in annual cost savings by 2020, on top of the current program designed to strip €4.5 billion in expenses.

"The [new] cost-cutting program won't be harsher than expected," Mr. Fitschen said, addressing speculations that his new co-CEO will accelerate or even boost the scope of the new efficiency effort.

Mr. Cryan has a reputation for trimming costs. At UBS, the overhaul he orchestrated reduced operating costs to 22.4 billion Swiss francs ($23.8 billion) in 2011 from 28.6 billion francs in 2008, mainly by cutting back on fixed-income trading that lacked the scale of large rivals, including Deutsche Bank. At the same time, head count at UBS fell by roughly 17% to 64,820.

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September 02, 2015 06:15 ET (10:15 GMT)

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