Deutche Bank Chief Hints at Reducing Stake in Chinese Lender
September 02 2015 - 6:30AM
Dow Jones News
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.
Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 02, 2015 06:15 ET (10:15 GMT)
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