FRANKFURT – Deutsche Bank’s merger and acquisition advisory business in the United States has been “extremely strong” in the fourth quarter, a bank executive said on Wednesday, adding that he was optimistic for 2022.
Once Deutsche’s problem child, the investment bank is the lender’s biggest revenue generator, benefiting from a pandemic-induced trading boom and a wave of dealmaking that has lifted banks across Wall Street.
“At this point, we’re continuing to see the same strength and volumes flowing into next year,” Drew Goldman, Head of Investment Bank Coverage & Advisory, told journalists.
Risks to the outlook include potential aggression from Russia and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s reaction to inflation, he said.
Deutsche’s investment division has helped the lender to turn course and post five consecutive quarters of profit, its longest streak in the black in nearly a decade.
The lender’s revenue from origination and advisory activities was up 22% during the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2020.
As revenues have risen, Deutsche has begun targeted hiring, even as it tries to pare global headcount by 18,000 people.
(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Riham Alkousaa and Barbara Lewis)
