Deutsche Bank has no plan B

While Commerzbank might yet be an attractive partner in European consolidation, Deutsche is caught in a horrible cycle of continuing to cut costs to offset declining revenues.

Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank

The day after ending merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, put on his bravest face to announce a 9% decline in revenues during the first quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year.

Sewing says that the bank made three promises to shareholders in 2018 and has delivered on all of them: to lower costs, to manage its balance sheet conservatively and to make good progress improving its controls.

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