The Cologne High Court has ordered Deutsche Bank to pay new compensation to Postbank investors who alleged it underpaid them when it acquired the German retail bank in 2010.
Deutsche Bank has registered record profits in the third quarter of 2024, with a profit before taxes of 2.3 billion euros, 31% more than in the same period of the previous year. The bank has revealed that it has been able release a part of the provisions for litigation previously reserved for the agreements in the Postbank acquisition case. The value of the release amounts to about 440 million euros.
Without the release of the litigation provision, the benefit before taxes the bank was 1.8 billion of euros, a figure that remains a record for the third quarter and represents an increase of 6% compared to the same period of the previous year. The benefit after taxes of the third quarter of the year, without taking into account the release of Postbank’s litigation provision, was 1.7 billion of euros, which represents an increase of 39% compared to the third quarter of 2023.
The profit before taxes for the first nine months of the year was 4.7 billion euros, which represents a 5% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. This figure includes the impact of the Postbank litigationwhich amounted to about 900 million euros.
Excluding the effect of litigation, the profit before taxes was 5.6 billion of euros in the first nine months of the year. This figure represents an increase of 13% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank, said in a press release: “In these three months, we have made important progress to leave litigation behind pending, while we have achieved a record profit in the third quarter in our operating business. “This reflects our strong franchise, positive momentum across our businesses and sustained cost discipline.”
“Our Global Hausbank is ideally positioned to help customers navigate the uncertainties of the current environment, and this reinforces our confidence that We will continue on our path of profitable growth and we will exceed our original capital distribution targets to shareholders. “We have now requested authorization for further share buybacks.”
Deutsche Bank loses Postbank case
Furthermore, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne has sentenced Deutsche Bank to pay new compensation to Postbank investors who alleged that the bank had underpaid them when acquired Postbank in 2010. A previous ruling is thus confirmed.
The investors argued that, instead of the 25 euros per share of Postbank that they were paid in 2010, they were I should have paid 57.25 euros, Postbank’s share price in 2008, when Deutsche Bank first acquired a stake in it. The plaintiffs demand total compensation of 100 million euros.
Deutsche Bank said in a statement: “We will now analyze the ruling. Deutsche Bank has provided provisions covering all claims outstanding claims of the plaintiffs, including interest accrued to date. Therefore, the bank is essentially considered entirely protected; “Any additional financial impact would be limited to the additional interest currently accrued, approximately €2 million per month.”
“The judgment today has no impact in any of the previously agreed upon agreements. “Deutsche Bank has reached a settlement with a total of 70% of the claimants in the Postbank acquisition litigation, representing 62% of the total value of the claims.”
“As announced in August, Deutsche Bank expected a positive impact in their pre-tax profits from the agreements already reached. The corresponding release of provisions of approximately 440 million euros is reflected in the results published today for the third quarter,” reads the statement.
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