Deutsche Bank to Review Strategy Next Year

By Eyk Henning

Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (DB) will review its business model as a global investment and transaction bank with local retail-banking operations next year, the co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen told German weekly Welt am Sonntag Sunday in a joint interview.

"The bank has always made it clear that it will review its strategy next year and might develop it further," Mr. Fitschen said, adding that it remains to be seen what this means for specific operations. According to media reports earlier this week, the bank is weighing a sale of its retail unit Deutsche Postbank AG, which it acquired in 2009.

A spokeswoman for the bank told The Wall Street Journal that "speculations about the sale of business units including Postbank are irresponsible," adding the lender is focusing on executing its strategy dubbed "2015+."

Mr. Fitschen stressed that private-client activities are essential for Deutsche Bank even though it is hard to achieve attractive profits. But he conceded that "everything needs to meet the test of whether it is [economically viable]. The business model must be in the interest of clients, but also in the interest of our shareholders."

While takeovers of retail-banking operations are currently not on the agenda for Deutsche Bank according to Mr. Fitschen, the lender is set to improve margins by cutting costs, which is "inevitable."

Write to Eyk Henning at [e-mail].

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