FRANKFURT, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Deutsche Bank AG on Thursday reported a massive net loss of 1.48 billion euros (1.63 billion U.S. dollars) in the last quarter of 2019, bringing the total loss for the year to 5.27 billion euros.
The German lender said its full-year net loss was entirely driven by transformation-related effects. In July 2019, the bank announced that it will withdraw from the global equities business as part of a restructuring plan to improve its profitability. This sweeping restructuring is expected to cost 7.4 billion euros until the end of 2022.
By the end of 2019, Deutsche Bank had recognized 70 percent of the anticipated cumulative costs to achieve its transformation strategy between 2019 and 2022, it said Thursday.
"Our new strategy is gaining traction," CEO Christian Sewing said in a statement, "[we]'re very confident we can finance our transformation with our own resources and return to growth."
Its annual revenue for 2019 totaled 23.17 billion euros, down 8 percent from the previous year. The bank reported a pre-tax profit of 543 million euros for its ongoing core businesses.
For the last three months, the bank reported a third consecutive quarterly loss, which totaled 1.48 billion euros. Total net revenues for the quarter amounted to 5.35 billion euros.
It also said that the group headcount was reduced by over 4,100 in 2019 to 87,597 full-time equivalents, in line with the bank's previously announced target of below 90,000.
