Deutsche Bank upbeat

Lenders in Europe would soon be able to navigate out of the doldrums, Germany's Deutsche Bank said in a corporate report issued on Monday.

"2013 could well mean a turnaround for banks on the continent," the report stated. "But a return to really sustainable growth is hardly possible before 2014."

Deutsche Bank said it expected the lenders' corporate consumer business to pick up markedly.

Germany's largest bank also said it believed that pressures stemming from legal requirements to increase capital stock might be easing, with a lot of the requested measures already implemented. It concluded that this would give lenders more financial leeway to invest in new business segments.

Universal bank model

In its report, the German lender once again categorically objected to any ideas of separating consumer and investment banking. Co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen maintained that Deutsche Bank's all-purpose structure was in the interest of its clients and Europe's economy as a whole.

"Developments in recent years have strengthened our conviction that our strategy is right," management commented.

But because of litigation provisions and in-house restructuring, the lender posted a bottom-line profit of only 291 million euros ($380 million) in 2012, down from 4.3 billion euros a year earlier.

That also had a direct impact on the salaries of Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen who "only" received about 4.9 million euros each for last year. Their predecessor, Josef Ackermann, pocketed 9.4 million euros in 2011.

hg/ipj (dpa, AFP)