Christian Sewing, Deutsche Bank's new CEO, tried to assure employees of the bank's financial stability despite the fact that the financial institution is currently facing tough times.
"My dear colleagues, the last few years were tough. Many of you are sick and tired of bad news. That’s exactly how I feel. But there’s no reason for us to be discouraged. Yes, our share price is at a historic low. But we’ll prove that we have earned a better valuation on the financial markets. We’ve achieved a lot we can be proud of. We have reduced risks by billions of euros, we have strengthened capital and we have reorganised our bank. We can tick those boxes. Now we need to look forward," Sewing wrote in his memo to staff.
The CEO's address comes several hours after S&P Global Ratings lowered Deutsche Bank's credit rating to BBB+ from A-, giving "significant execution risks in the delivery of the updated strategy amid a continued unhelpful market backdrop" as a reason for its decision. "We think that, relative to peers, Deutsche Bank will remain a negative outlier for some time," S&P Global added.
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The day before, media outlets reported that over a year ago, the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, had deemed some of Deutsche Bank's US subsidiaries as "troubled," which caused a sharp fall in the bank's share price.
Sewing became Deutsche Bank's CEO in April after its former head John Cryan resigned after three years of losses. Last week, Sewing announced new restructuring plans stipulating staff cuts from 97,000 to under 90,000 employees and concentrating stock trading operations in Europe and Germany in particular, cutting back on its business in the US.
