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 Jü rgen 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 eyk.henning@wsj.com and Sarah Sloat at
sarah.sloat@wsj.com
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