Postbank: Deutsche Bank achieves profit leap thanks to Postbank settlement

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The back and forth in the legal dispute over the Postbank takeover has given Deutsche Bank a strong jump in profits in the third quarter. Because the DAX-listed group was able to partially release a provision from the second quarter, shareholders received almost 1.5 billion euros on the bottom line. This was 42 percent more than a year earlier and more than analysts had expected on average. CEO Christian Sewing also considered buying back more shares when presenting the interim results on Wednesday. He expressed confidence that he would be able to distribute more capital to shareholders than originally planned. In the summer, Deutsche Bank still had worse news in store. Due to a provision of 1.3 billion euros in the Postbank legal dispute, it had even slipped into the red. However, following an agreement with the majority of the plaintiffs from among the former Postbank shareholders, it has now been able to make up 440 million euros of this. The Management Board also reported positive developments in day-to-day business. CFO James von Moltke confirmed the target of generating income of 30 billion euros this year. The management also believes the bank is on track with its targets for 2025. Above all, the return on tangible equity should then reach more than 10 percent. In the third quarter, it was even slightly above this mark at 10.2 percent. However, without the provisions charged, it would only have amounted to 7.6 percent./stw/mis