Deutsche Bank's deal-making business weaker than expected, CEO says

By Tom Sims and Matthias Inverardi

FRANKFURT, June 12 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's DBKGn.DE origination and advisory business is not as strong as the German bank had expected as companies postpone decisions due to U.S. tariff policies, CEO Christian Sewing said on Thursday.

Sewing, the chief of Germany's largest lender, said at a financial conference that the deal-making business will be weaker in the second quarter than executives had planned at the start of 2025.

"Will it be weaker than we initially thought? Yes. But, to be honest, we talk about a lot of delayed, but not cancelled, deals," Sewing said.

Deal-making has slowed this year as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on trading partners fanned turmoil in markets and sparked concerns about slowing economic growth. Other big banks, including Bank of America BAC.N, have also warned of a slowdown in the business.

For Deutsche, the so-called origination and advisory revenue, after making big gains in recent quarters, saw an 8% drop in the first quarter.

Sewing said that revenue in the investment bank's much larger fixed-income and currency business will be up in the second quarter compared with the previous year.

Sewing said he was optimistic about Deutsche's other business lines, like the corporate bank and retail bank, and Deutsche Bank is sticking to its targets, he said.

This is a crucial year for Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, as it faces a deadline to meet ambitious goals on costs and profitability.

Asked about the prospect of mergers and acquisitions as banks in Italy and Spain weigh consolidation, Sewing said that Deutsche "can grow organically".

"I'm not looking so much at consolidation for Deutsche Bank," he said.