Christian Sewing

Christian Sewing became CEO of Deutsche Bank in 2018, inheriting Germany's largest bank at its lowest point — weighed down by billions in litigation costs, regulatory fines, strategic confusion, and a stock price that had fallen 90% from its pre-financial-crisis peak. Under Sewing's leadership, Deutsche Bank has executed what many considered an impossible turnaround. The restructuring was brutal and decisive: Sewing exited the global equities trading business entirely, cut approximately 18,000 jobs, created a "bad bank" (Capital Release Unit) to wind down €288 billion in unwanted assets, and refocused the bank on four core businesses — Corporate Bank (transaction banking, trade finance for German and European companies), Investment Bank (fixed income, currencies, origination & advisory), Private Bank (German retail and international private banking), and Asset Management (DWS, Germany's largest asset manager). The results have exceeded expectations: Deutsche Bank has returned to consistent profitability, its CET1 capital ratio is robust, and the bank is now targeting a return on tangible equity above 10%. However, challenges remain — the German economy is stagnating, competition in European banking is fierce, and Deutsche Bank's long history of risk management failures means the market applies a persistent discount. Key stock drivers include European interest rate environment, corporate and investment banking revenues, credit quality (particularly German commercial real estate), litigation costs, CET1 ratio, return on equity trajectory, and the broader sentiment toward European banking stocks.