A message from Christian Sewing on Q3 results 2026

Dear Colleagues,

a month ago, we set a world record together. I’m still inspired by the energy, enthusiasm and team spirit you brought to the challenge in every corner of the world. It was a powerful reminder of what makes our bank special: the strength of our collaboration and determination to achieve something extraordinary together.

We also delivered a standout performance in the third quarter: profit before tax rose by 8 percent to 2.6 billion euros, while profit after tax reached 1.9 billion euros. This made it our third consecutive record quarter. After nine months, net profit also reached an all-time high of 5.9 billion euros.

These results reflect strong and balanced operating performance. We are growing revenues, investing in our future and maintaining cost discipline at the same time. Revenues for the first nine months grew by 5 percent year on year to 25.5 billion euros, and we are on track to deliver full-year revenues above 33 billion euros, assuming markets remain constructive. We also achieved a return on tangible equity of 11.5 percent and a cost/income ratio of 61.4 percent after three quarters, reflecting clear progress compared to the prior year.

In short, we are delivering on our commitments and are firmly on track to meet our 2026 objectives. This includes successfully completing our second share buyback in the year and creating further value for our shareholders.

In line with our strategy, we are seeing particularly strong growth in the businesses where clients entrust us with their savings and investments. Assets under management increased to almost 2 trillion euros, driven by record net inflows of more than 100 billion euros since the start of the year.

These results were supported by strong performance across all four businesses. The Private Bank continued its positive momentum, recording higher net inflows than ever before, particularly in Wealth Management. Our Asset Management business reached a new milestone. For the first time, assets under management exceeded 1.2 trillion euros, while also attracting record net inflows from clients. The Corporate Bank also delivered its strongest quarterly revenues on record, with higher loan and deposit volumes, combined with sustained client activity and strong momentum in Germany. Finally, the Investment Bank remained resilient in the face of challenging market conditions, broadly matching the prior-year quarter’s record revenues, while gaining market share in the capital markets business.

We now need to maintain our focus and momentum as we work towards finishing the year as strongly as we began it. Our ambition goes further, though. We want to become a European champion. And we see significant opportunities to move much closer to that goal.

Our position as the Global Hausbank is a decisive advantage. We are present wherever our clients need us, while remaining deeply rooted in Germany and Europe. Renewed international interest in Germany was evident at the Invest in Germany Summit and in Larry Fink’s remarks during our recent “Tell me more” session. This creates new opportunities to connect investors and companies.

To realise our full potential, we need to grow profitably in our strategic priority areas while becoming faster and more efficient. We must simplify processes and make consistent use of technology and artificial intelligence. At the same time, we must combine our strengths across all areas while maintaining rigorous financial discipline and risk management.

This will not only allow us to achieve our 2028 targets, but also to raise our ambitions further. When we present our full-year-results in January, we plan to outline how far we believe we can go and the path we will take to get there.

The confidence with which we can look ahead is, above all, down to you. For that, you have my sincere gratitude. We see this accomplishment as both an achievement and a responsibility, because we know that trust and success must be earned anew every single day.

With deep dedication.
Christian