Deutsche Bank's New co-CEO Delays Strategy -- Update

By Eyk Henning and Sarah Sloat 

FRANKFURT--Deutsche Bank AG's incoming co-Chief Executive John Cryan on Wednesday postponed a detailed presentation of the giant German lender's new strategy until the end of October, but said he remains committed to trimming the bank's operations.

In a letter to staff posted on the bank's website, he said: "I am not going to tell you that all will be sweetness and light in the coming months."

The former UBS finance chief starts Wednesday as co-CEO alongside Jürgen Fitschen, replacing Anshu Jain after a management shake-up.

Investors were keenly awaiting Mr. Cryan's take on the bank's new strategy announced In April that some had complained lacked detail.

It aimed to streamline the at-times unwieldy German lender and to boost its profitability but stopped short of a radical plan to break up Deutsche Bank's investment-banking and retail-lending operations into separate companies.

The frustration culminated at the bank's annual meeting when only 61% of shareholders approved of the bank's strategic plan. Although the vote was nonbinding, the record-low approval was a slap in the face to the co-CEOs.

Mr. Cryan said he is committed to the cornerstones of the strategy 2020, which includes shedding the mass retail unit Postbank AG, but said it would take the summer and fall to work out how to cut costs and other details of the new strategy. The bank previously aimed at presenting these by the end of this month.

Write to Eyk Henning at [e-mail] and Sarah Sloat at [e-mail]

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