Deutsche Bank announced a 10% year-on-year increase in profit after tax to € 1.9 billion for the second quarter of 2026, the highest ever second quarter. Profit before tax rose 11% year on year to € 2.7 billion. Diluted earnings per share were € 0.57, up 19% over the second quarter of 2025. For the first six months of 2026 the bank announced a record first-half after-tax profit of € 4.1 billion, up 9% year on year, while profit before tax was € 5.7 billion, also up 9% year on year.
"Our record second-quarter results were driven by powerful growth momentum and cost discipline. We continued to scale our Global Hausbank, building business volumes and funding incremental, value-creative investments by driving operating efficiencies. Looking ahead, the rapid evolution of AI gives us added scope to deliver value to clients and make additional cost savings, while positive trends are becoming clearer across our policy and regulatory landscape. These developments, together with our record performance in 2026 to date, reinforce our confidence that we have upside to our 2028 targets."
Second quarter 2026 highlights:
Further progress toward targets with strengthening of key ratios
- 11.0% post-tax return on tangible equity (RoTE)1, up from 10.1% in Q2 2025
- 63.0% cost/income ratio, down from 63.6% in the prior year quarter
Revenue and business volume growth
- Net revenues up 9% year on year to € 8.5 billion with growth across all four businesses
- Assets under management (AuM) up € 135 billion in the quarter, including net inflows of € 34 billion, to more than € 1.9 trillion across Private Bank and Asset Management
- Record revenues in Fixed Income & Currencies (FIC) and 36% growth in Investment Banking & Capital Markets (IBCM)
Costs reflect disciplined strategy execution
- Noninterest expenses of € 5.3 billion, up 8% year on year, include incremental investments and volume growth; up 4% excluding the € 0.2 billion impact of capital-accretive business exit and non-recurrence of prior year litigation release
- Operating efficiencies of € 0.2 billion in Q2, € 0.3 billion year to date, include targeted workforce measures and operating model improvements
Credit: overall portfolio quality remains strong with performance in line with expectations
- Provision for credit losses of € 460 million, down 11% quarter on quarter
- Impact of planned capital-accretive and de-risking exit of non-performing exposures partially offset by overlay releases
Capital strength supports business growth and increased payouts to shareholders
- Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio of 13.9%, in line with operating range of 13.5-14.0%, after deductions in line with 60% payout ratio
- Announced new € 500 million share buyback program from 2026 net income and covered by current deductions, to follow completion of current € 1 billion program
Group results at a glance
Raja Akram, Chief Financial Officer, added: “We delivered another quarter of strong performance, demonstrating the benefits of our well-diversified business model and the strength of our stable capital light businesses – the Corporate Bank, Private Bank and Asset Management – alongside a very strong performance from the Investment Bank. We continued to grow assets under management, loans and deposits, while maintaining disciplined cost and capital management. With a CET1 ratio of 13.9% and strong organic capital generation, we remain well positioned to invest in our businesses and deliver attractive shareholder returns as evidenced by our newly-announced €500 million share buyback from 2026 earnings.”
