Deutsche Bank's profit plunged 58% in 'challenging' markets
Net income at Deutsche Bank fell 58% in the first quarter of 2016 to €236 million (£183 million).
The bank had made €559 million in the same period (January to March) last year.
While it sounds bad, it could have been about half a billion euros worse - analysts expected a loss of €249 million, according to a Reuters poll.
John Cryan, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank, said: "Financial markets were challenging during the first quarter, largely reflecting concerns about the outlook for the global economy."
"This uncertainty led to a decline in client activity in the capital markets, and our revenues fell from the prior year, most notably in our trading and corporate finance businesses. Our results reflect these challenging conditions as well as the impact of our strategic decisions to exit or reduce significantly selected businesses," Cryan said in a statement on Thursday.
The drag on revenue and profit came mostly from the investment banking and markets division. Debt sales and trading revenues were €2 billion euros, down 29% year-on-year. Equity sales and trading revenues saw the same 29% drop to €728 million.
Deutsche Bank has had a volatile year.
The bank announced a new lineup at the top of the markets business in November. Ram Nayak was appointed to lead a new debt-trading unit that combined rates, credit, foreign exchange, emerging-market debt, and structured-finance trading. Sam Wisnia heads rates in Europe and the Americas.
It then found itself the subject of speculation in February as investors fretted over its ability to pay the coupon on contingent bonds, and credit default swaps on the bank's debt widened dramatically.
Shares were up on the news in early trading on Thursday:
