Deutsche Bank is setting course for the future, says Hilmar Kopper
Having recorded its best result ever in 1993, last year brought a return to normality for
Deutsche Bank. The 1994 financial year was characterised by tougher competition
worldwide, structural change in the banking industry, turbulence on the financial markets
and the after-effects of the recession. "Deutsche Bank is strong because it is a player in
market events around the world," said Hilmar Kopper, Spokesman of the Board of
Managing Directors of Deutsche Bank, at the Bank's general meeting in Berlin's ICC
congress centre. "The flip side of this strength is that the bank occasionally succumbs to
factors for which it is not responsible."
To adjust to the worldwide changes in banking, Deutsche Bank is already setting course
for the future. For example, it has acquired ITT's commercial finance division in North
America and has strengthened its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Its investment
banking operations will have an integrated management in London with global
responsibility. In London a private banking unit has been set up, and, in New York, a
Deutsche Bank trust company. The domestic bank is restructuring in the course of a
project titled "Closer to the Customer". To give customers electronic access to their
bank, Deutsche Bank is setting up Bank 24, which will be available around the clock.
"The fight for the market has become tougher," said Kopper. Collapses and mergers
bear witness to a banking world which belongs to the past."
For the current year Deutsche Bank has set itself the target of achieving a substantially
better result than in 1994. The volatility continues on the money, foreign exchange and
capital markets. For the first four months of 1995, Group operating profit after loan loss
provisioning is 7 % lower than for the same period last year. In Germany, net interest
income and commission income have so far declined. However, own-account trading
and foreign business have been better than last year. By the prorated comparison
method, the first third's results are well above the respective 1994 results.
