Deutsche Bank speeds up office closures to cut costs

Deutsche Bank warned that the pandemic has forced it to speed up office closures as the German lender posted a surprise profit in the third quarter.

Finance chief James von Moltke said it will "accelerate and deepen" plans to cut the size of its offices beyond the 25pc target set last year because of the "learnings" from the crisis.

The bank has already offloaded 25 floors of its Wall Street tower ahead of leaving it next year when the lease expires.

Last month, chief executive Christian Sewing said Germany's biggest lender was considering moving to a "hybrid" working model for its 87,000 employees to cut costs.

It came as the Frankfurt-based bank swung to a surprise profit for the three months to September as it shook off virus-related losses and ploughed on with a wide-ranging restructuring.

Deutsche posted a net profit of €182m (£164m), compared with a loss of €942m in the same period last year. Analysts predicted a loss of €82m for the period.

Mr Sewing said: "Our more focused business model is paying off. We not only demonstrated continued cost discipline, but also our ability to gain market share."

The bank said it has axed about 3,000 of the 18,000 jobs it announced it would slash last year. During the height of the crisis, Deutsche paused its job cuts programme for six weeks.

In September, it said it would close about 100 branches, cutting  its high street presence by a fifth due to "changes in customer behaviour patterns".

For the nine months to September, net profit was €62m, compared with a net loss of €4.1bn at the same point in 2019, when early provisions for its restructuring hit the business.

The lender lowered its provision for loan losses compared with the lockdown-hit second quarter but stuck with its outlook for the full year.

The group's third quarter results were once again driven by investment banking, which brought in €2.4bn, up 43pc on the same period last year.