As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 20, 2017
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
Form 20-F
☐ | REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
or
☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2016 |
or
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
or
☐ | SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Date of event requiring this shell company report .
Commission file number 1-15242
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Deutsche Bank Corporation
(Translation of Registrants name into English)
Federal Republic of Germany
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(Address of principal executive offices)
Peter Burrill, +49-69-910-31781, peter.burrill@db.com, Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act
See following page
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.
NONE
(Title of Class)
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.
NONE
(Title of Class)
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuers classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:
Ordinary Shares, no par value | 1,379,069,689 |
(as of December 31, 2016)
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
Yes ☒ No ☐
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Yes ☐ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or non-accelerated filer. See definition of accelerated filer and large accelerated filer in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act (Check one):
Large accelerated filer ☒ | Accelerated filer ☐ | Non-accelerated filer ☐ |
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
U.S. GAAP ☐ | International Financial Reporting Standards ☒ | Other ☐ | ||
as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board |
If Other has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow
Item 17 ☐ Item 18 ☐
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes ☐ No ☒
Deutsche Bank | 2 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act (as of February 28, 2017)
Title of each class |
Name of each exchange on which registered | |
Ordinary shares, no par value |
New York Stock Exchange | |
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| |
6.55 % Trust Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital Trust II |
New York Stock Exchange | |
6.55 % Company Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital LLC II* |
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Subordinated Guarantees of Deutsche Bank AG in connection with Capital Securities* |
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7.60 % Trust Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital Trust III |
New York Stock Exchange | |
7.60 % Company Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital LLC III* |
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Subordinated Guarantees of Deutsche Bank AG in connection with Capital Securities* |
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8.05 % Trust Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital Trust V |
New York Stock Exchange | |
8.05 % Company Preferred Securities of Deutsche Bank Contingent Capital LLC V* |
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Subordinated Guarantees of Deutsche Bank AG in connection with Capital Securities* |
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Fixed to Fixed Reset Rate Subordinated Tier 2 Notes Due 2028 |
New York Stock Exchange | |
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4.50 % Fixed Rate Subordinated Tier 2 Notes Due 2025 |
New York Stock Exchange | |
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DB Agriculture Short Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Agriculture Long Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Agriculture Double Short Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Agriculture Double Long Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Base Metals Short Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Base Metals Double Short Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
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DB Base Metals Double Long Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Commodity Short Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Commodity Long Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Commodity Double Long Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Commodity Double Short Exchange Traded Notes due April 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
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DB Crude Oil Short Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Crude Oil Long Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
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DB Crude Oil Double Short Exchange Traded Notes due June 1, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
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DB Gold Double Long Exchange Traded notes due February 15, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Gold Double Short Exchange Traded notes due February 15, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
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DB Gold Short Exchange Traded notes due February 15, 2038 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
| |
ELEMENTS Dogs of the Dow Linked to the Dow Jones High Yield Select 10 Total Return Index due November 14, 2022 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
| |
ELEMENTS Linked to the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus(SM) Total Return Index due October 24, 2022 |
NYSE Arca | |
|
| |
FI Enhanced Global High Yield Exchange Traded Notes Linked to the MSCI World High Dividend Yield USD Gross Total Return Index due October 12, 2023 | NYSE Arca |
* | For listing purpose only, not for trading |
3 | Deutsche Bank | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Deutsche Bank | 4 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
5 | Deutsche Bank | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, which we also call Deutsche Bank AG, is a stock corporation organized under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. Unless otherwise specified or required by the context, in this document, references to we, us, our, the Group, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank Group are to Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this document may not add up precisely to the totals we provide and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures.
Our registered address is Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and our telephone number is +49-69-910-00.
Inclusion of Our Annual Report
We have included as an integral part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F our Annual Report 2016, to which we refer for the responses to certain items hereof. Certain portions of the Annual Report 2016 have been omitted, as indicated therein. The included Annual Report 2016 contains our consolidated financial statements, which we also incorporate by reference into this report, in response to Items 8.A and 18. Such consolidated financial statements differ from those contained in the Annual Report 2016 used for other purposes in that, for Notes 45 and 46 thereto, notes addressing non-U.S. requirements have been replaced with notes addressing U.S. requirements, and Note 47 thereto has been omitted. Such consolidated financial statements have been audited by KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, as described in their Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm included on page 417 of the Annual Report 2016, which report is included only in the version of the Annual Report 2016 included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
We make certain forward-looking statements in this document with respect to our financial condition and results of operations. In this document, forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to:
| the potential development and impact on us of economic and business conditions and the legal and regulatory environment to which we are subject; |
| the implementation of our strategic initiatives and other responses thereto; |
| the development of aspects of our results of operations; |
| our expectations of the impact of risks that affect our business, including the risks of losses on our trading processes and credit exposures; and |
| other statements relating to our future business development and economic performance. |
In addition, we may from time to time make forward-looking statements in our periodic reports to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K, annual and interim reports, invitations to Annual General Meetings and other information sent to shareholders, offering circulars and prospectuses, press releases and other written materials. Our Management Board, Supervisory Board, officers and employees may also make oral forward-looking statements to third parties, including financial analysts.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations. We use words such as believe, anticipate, expect, intend, seek, estimate, project, should, potential, reasonably possible, plan, aim and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.
Deutsche Bank | 6 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, both general and specific. We base these statements on our current plans, estimates, projections and expectations. You should therefore not place too much reliance on them. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date we make them, and we undertake no obligation to update any of them in light of new information or future events.
We caution you that a number of important factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from those we describe in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, among others, the following:
| the potential development and impact on us of economic and business conditions; |
| other changes in general economic and business conditions; |
| changes and volatility in currency exchange rates, interest rates and asset prices; |
| changes in governmental policy and regulation, including measures taken in response to economic, business, political and social conditions; |
| the potential development and impact on us of legal and regulatory proceedings to which we are or may become subject; |
| changes in our competitive environment; |
| the success of our acquisitions, divestitures, mergers and strategic alliances; |
| our success in implementing our strategic initiatives and other responses to economic and business conditions and the legal and regulatory environment and realizing the benefits anticipated therefrom; and |
| other factors, including those we refer to in Item 3: Key Information Risk Factors and elsewhere in this document and others to which we do not refer. |
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This document and other documents we have published or may publish contain non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures are measures of our historical or future performance, financial position or cash flows that contain adjustments that exclude or include amounts that are included or excluded, as the case may be, from the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS in our financial statements. Examples of our non-GAAP financial measures, and the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures, are as follows:
Non-GAAP Financial Measure |
Most Directly Comparable IFRS Financial Measure | |
Net income attributable to Deutsche Bank shareholders |
Net income | |
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Adjusted costs |
Noninterest expenses | |
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Tangible shareholders equity, Tangible book value |
Total shareholders equity (book value) | |
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Post-tax return on average shareholders equity (based on Net income attributable to Deutsche bank shareholders) |
Post-tax return on average shareholders equity | |
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Post-tax return on average tangible shareholders equity |
Post-tax return on average shareholders equity | |
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Tangible book value per share outstanding |
Total shareholders equity (book value) per share outstanding | |
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For descriptions of these non-GAAP financial measures and the adjustments made to the most directly comparable financial measures under IFRS, please refer to Supplementary Information: Non-GAAP Financial Measures on pages 467 through 472, which is incorporated by reference herein.
7 | Deutsche Bank | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
When used with respect to future periods, our non-GAAP financial measures are also forward-looking statements. We cannot predict or quantify the levels of the most directly comparable financial measures under IFRS that would correspond to these measures for future periods. This is because neither the magnitude of such IFRS financial measures, nor the magnitude of the adjustments to be used to calculate the related non-GAAP financial measures from such IFRS financial measures, can be predicted. Such adjustments, if any, will relate to specific, currently unknown, events and in most cases can be positive or negative, so that it is not possible to predict whether, for a future period, the non-GAAP financial measure will be greater than or less than the related IFRS financial measure.
CRR/CRD 4 Solvency Measures
Our regulatory assets, exposures, risk-weighted assets, capital and ratios thereof are calculated for regulatory purposes as of December 31, 2016, December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 and set forth throughout this document under the regulation on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms (CRR) and the Capital Requirements Directive 4 (CRD 4) implementing Basel 3, which were published on June 27, 2013 and which apply on and after January 1, 2014. CRR/CRD 4 provides for transitional (or phase-in) rules, under which capital instruments that are no longer eligible under the new rules are permitted to be phased out as the new rules on regulatory adjustments are phased in, as well as regarding the risk weighting of certain categories of assets. In some cases, CRR/CRD 4 maintains transitional rules that had been adopted in earlier capital adequacy frameworks through Basel 2 or Basel 2.5. The transitional rules relate, e.g., to the risk weighting of certain categories of assets. Unless otherwise noted, our CRR/CRD 4 solvency measures as of December 31, 2016, December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 set forth in this document reflect these transitional rules.
We also set forth in this document such CRR/CRD 4 measures on a fully loaded basis, reflecting full application of the final CRR/CRD 4 framework without consideration of the transitional provisions under CRR/CRD 4, except as described below. Measures calculated pursuant to our fully loaded methodology are non-GAAP financial measures.
The transitional rules include rules permitting the grandfathering of equity investments at a risk-weight of 100 % instead of a risk weight between 190 % and 370 % determined based on Article 155 CRR that would apply under the CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded rules. Despite the grandfathering rule for equity investments not applying under the full application of the final CRR/CRD 4 framework, we continue to apply it in our CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded methodology for a limited subset of equity positions, based on our intention to mitigate the impact of the expiration of the grandfathering rule through sales of the underlying assets or other measures prior to its expiration at end of 2017. We are closely monitoring the market and potential impacts from illiquid markets or other similar difficulties which could make it unfeasible to exit these positions.
As the final implementation of CRR/CRD 4 may differ from our expectations, and our competitors assumptions and estimates regarding such implementation may vary, our fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures may not be comparable with similarly labeled measures used by our competitors.
We believe that these fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 calculations provide useful information to investors as they reflect our progress against the new regulatory capital standards and as many of our competitors have been describing CRR/CRD 4 calculations on a fully loaded basis.
Deutsche Bank | 8 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
For descriptions of these fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures and the differences from the most directly comparable measures under the CRR/CRD 4 transitional rules, please refer to Management Report: Risk Report: Risk and Capital Performance: Capital and Leverage Ratio on pages 136 through 152 of the Annual Report 2016, in particular the subsections thereof entitled Development of Regulatory Capital, Development of Risk-Weighted Assets and Leverage Ratio, and, with respect to the effect of the grandfathering rule on our fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures, to Supplementary Information: Non-GAAP Financial Measures: Fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 Measures on pages 471 through 472 of the Annual Report 2016, each of which are incorporated by reference herein.
When used with respect to future periods, our fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures are also forward-looking statements. We cannot predict or quantify the levels of the most directly comparable transitional CRR/CRD 4 measures that would correspond to these fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures for future periods. In managing our business with the aim of achieving targets based on fully loaded CRR/CRD 4 measures, the relation between the fully loaded and transitional measures will depend upon, among other things, management action taken in light of future business, economic and other conditions.
Use of Internet Addresses
This document contains inactive textual addresses of Internet websites operated by us and third parties. Reference to such websites is made for informational purposes only, and information found at such websites is not incorporated by reference into this document.
9 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
PART I | ||||||||
Item 1: Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers
Not required because this document is filed as an annual report.
Item 2: Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable
Not required because this document is filed as an annual report.
We have derived the data we present in the tables below from our audited consolidated financial statements for the years presented. You should read all of the data in the tables below together with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in Item 18: Financial Statements and the information we provide in Item 5: Operating and Financial Review and Prospects. Except where we have indicated otherwise, we have prepared all of the consolidated financial information in this document in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and as endorsed by the European Union (EU). Our corporate division and segment data comes from our management reporting systems and is not in all cases prepared in accordance with IFRS. For a discussion of the major differences between our management reporting systems and our consolidated financial statements under IFRS, see Note 4 Business Segments and Related Information to the consolidated financial statements.
Deutsche Bank | 10 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Income Statement Data
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2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
in m. | in m. | in m. | in m. | in m. | ||||||||||||||||
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Net interest income |
14,707 | 15,881 | 14,272 | 14,834 | 15,975 | |||||||||||||||
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Provision for credit losses |
1,383 | 956 | 1,134 | 2,065 | 1,721 | |||||||||||||||
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Net interest income after provision for credit losses |
13,324 | 14,925 | 13,138 | 12,769 | 14,254 | |||||||||||||||
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Commissions and fee income | 11,744 | 12,765 | 12,409 | 12,308 | 11,809 | |||||||||||||||
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Net gains (losses) on financial assets/liabilities at fair value through profit or loss | 1,401 | 3,842 | 4,299 | 3,817 | 5,608 | |||||||||||||||
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Other noninterest income (loss) | 2,162 | 1,037 | 969 | 956 | 344 | |||||||||||||||
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Total net revenues |
30,014 | 33,525 | 31,949 | 31,915 | 33,736 | |||||||||||||||
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Compensation and benefits |
11,874 | 13,293 | 12,512 | 12,329 | 13,490 | |||||||||||||||
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General and administrative expenses |
15,454 | 18,632 | 14,654 | 15,126 | 15,017 | |||||||||||||||
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Policyholder benefits and claims |
374 | 256 | 289 | 460 | 414 | |||||||||||||||
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Impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets |
1,256 | 5,776 | 111 | 79 | 1,886 | |||||||||||||||
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Restructuring activities |
484 | 710 | 133 | 399 | 394 | |||||||||||||||
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Total noninterest expenses |
29,442 | 38,667 | 27,699 | 28,394 | 31,201 | |||||||||||||||
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Income (loss) before income taxes |
(810) | (6,097) | 3,116 | 1,457 | 814 | |||||||||||||||
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Income tax expense |
546 | 675 | 1,425 | 775 | 498 | |||||||||||||||
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Net income (loss) |
(1,356) | (6,772) | 1,691 | 681 | 316 | |||||||||||||||
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Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests |
45 | 21 | 28 | 15 | 53 | |||||||||||||||
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Net income (loss) attributable to Deutsche Bank shareholders and additional equity components | (1,402) | (6,794) | 1,663 | 666 | 263 | |||||||||||||||
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in | in | in | in | in | ||||||||||||||||
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Basic earnings per share1,2 |
(1.21) | (5.06) | 1.34 | 0.64 | 0.27 | |||||||||||||||
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Diluted earnings per share1,3 |
(1.21) | (5.06) | 1.31 | 0.62 | 0.26 | |||||||||||||||
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Dividends paid per share4 |
0.00 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.75 | |||||||||||||||
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1 | The number of average basic and diluted shares outstanding has been adjusted for all periods before June 2014 in order to reflect the effect of the bonus component of subscription rights issued in June 2014 in connection with the capital increase. |
2 | We calculate basic earnings per share for each period by dividing our net income attributable to Deutsche Bank shareholders by the average number of common shares outstanding. Earnings were adjusted by 276 million and 228 million net of tax for the coupons paid on Additional Tier 1 Notes in April 2016 and April 2015, respectively. |
3 | We calculate diluted earnings per share for each period by dividing our net income attributable to Deutsche Bank shareholders by the average number of common shares outstanding, both after assumed conversions. Earnings were adjusted by 276 million and 228 million net of tax for the coupons paid on Additional Tier 1 Notes in April 2016 and April 2015, respectively. For 2016 and 2015, there is no dilutive effect as the Group reported a net loss. |
4 | Dividends we declared and paid in the year. |
Balance Sheet Data
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2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
in m. | in m. | in m. | in m. | in m. | ||||||||||||||||
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Total assets |
1,590,546 | 1,629,130 | 1,708,703 | 1,611,400 | 2,022,275 | |||||||||||||||
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Loans |
408,909 | 427,749 | 405,612 | 376,582 | 397,377 | |||||||||||||||
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Deposits |
550,204 | 566,974 | 532,931 | 527,750 | 577,210 | |||||||||||||||
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Long-term debt |
172,316 | 160,016 | 144,837 | 133,082 | 157,325 | |||||||||||||||
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Common shares |
3,531 | 3,531 | 3,531 | 2,610 | 2,380 | |||||||||||||||
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Total shareholders equity |
59,833 | 62,678 | 68,351 | 54,719 | 54,001 | |||||||||||||||
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Common Equity Tier 1 capital (CRR/CRD 4)1 |
47,782 | 52,429 | 60,103 | 38,534 | 37,957 | |||||||||||||||
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Common Equity Tier 1 capital (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded)1 |
42,279 | 44,101 | 46,076 | 38,534 | 37,957 | |||||||||||||||
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Tier 1 capital (CRR/CRD 4)1 |
55,486 | 58,222 | 63,898 | 50,717 | 50,483 | |||||||||||||||
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Tier 1 capital (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded)1 |
46,829 | 48,651 | 50,695 | 50,717 | 50,483 | |||||||||||||||
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Total regulatory capital (CRR/CRD 4)1 |
62,158 | 64,522 | 68,293 | 55,464 | 57,015 | |||||||||||||||
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Total regulatory capital (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded)1 |
59,502 | 60,976 | 63,072 | 55,464 | 57,015 | |||||||||||||||
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1 | Figures presented for 2016, 2015 and 2014 are based on the transitional rules (CRR/CRD 4) and the full application (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded) of the CRR/CRD 4 framework. Figures presented for 2013 and 2012 are based on Basel 2.5. The capital ratios relate the respective capital to risk-weighted assets. Until 2013 transitional items pursuant to the former Section 64h (3) of the German Banking Act are excluded. |
11 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Certain Key Ratios and Figures
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2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
Share price at period-end1 | 17.25 | 22.53 | 24.99 | 33.07 | 31.43 | |||||||||||||||
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Share price high1 | 22.10 | 33.42 | 38.15 | 36.94 | 37.68 | |||||||||||||||
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Share price low1 | 9.90 | 20.69 | 22.66 | 28.05 | 21.09 | |||||||||||||||
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Book value per basic share outstanding2,4 | 42.74 | 45.16 | 49.32 | 50.80 | 54.74 | |||||||||||||||
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Tangible book value per basic share outstanding3,4 | 36.33 | 37.90 | 38.53 | 37.87 | 40.32 | |||||||||||||||
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Post-tax return on average shareholders equity5 | (2.3) % | (9.8) % | 2.7 % | 1.2 % | 0.5 % | |||||||||||||||
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Post-tax return on average tangible shareholders equity6 | (2.7) % | (12.3) % | 3.5 % | 1.6 % | 0.7 % | |||||||||||||||
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Cost/income ratio7 | 98.1 % | 115.3 % | 86.7 % | 89.0 % | 92.5 % | |||||||||||||||
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Compensation ratio8 | 39.6 % | 39.7 % | 39.2 % | 38.6 % | 40.0 % | |||||||||||||||
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Noncompensation ratio9 | 58.5 % | 75.7 % | 47.5 % | 50.3 % | 52.5 % | |||||||||||||||
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Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio (CRR/CRD 4)10 | 13.4 % | 13.2 % | 15.2 % | 12.8 % | 11.4 % | |||||||||||||||
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Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded)10 | 11.8 % | 11.1 % | 11.7 % | 12.8 % | 11.4 % | |||||||||||||||
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Tier 1 capital ratio (CRR/CRD 4)10 | 15.6 % | 14.7 % | 16.1 % | 16.9 % | 15.1 % | |||||||||||||||
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Tier 1 capital ratio (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded)10 | 13.1 % | 12.3 % | 12.9 % | 16.9 % | 15.1 % | |||||||||||||||
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Employees at period-end (full-time equivalent): |
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In Germany |
44,600 | 45,757 | 45,392 | 46,377 | 46,308 | |||||||||||||||
Outside Germany |
55,144 | 55,347 | 52,746 | 51,877 | 51,911 | |||||||||||||||
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Branches at period-end: |
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In Germany |
1,776 | 1,827 | 1,845 | 1,924 | 1,944 | |||||||||||||||
Outside Germany |
880 | 963 | 969 | 983 | 1,040 | |||||||||||||||
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1 | Historical share prices have been adjusted on June 5, 2014 with retroactive effect to reflect the capital increase by multiplying a correcting factor of 0.9538. |
2 | Shareholders equity divided by the number of basic shares outstanding (both at period-end). |
3 | Shareholders equity less goodwill and other intangible assets, divided by the number of basic shares outstanding (both at period-end). |
4 | The number of average basic shares outstanding has been adjusted for all periods before June 2014 in order to reflect the effect of the bonus element of the subscription rights issue in connection with the capital increase in June 2014. |
5 | Net income attributable to our shareholders as a percentage of average shareholders equity. |
6 | Net income attributable to our shareholders as a percentage of average tangible shareholders equity. |
7 | Total noninterest expenses as a percentage of net interest income before provision for credit losses, plus noninterest income. |
8 | Compensation and benefits as a percentage of total net interest income before provision for credit losses, plus noninterest income. |
9 | Noncompensation noninterest expenses, which is defined as total noninterest expenses less compensation and benefits, as a percentage of total net interest income before provision for credit losses, plus noninterest income. |
10 | Figures presented for 2016, 2015 and 2014 are based on the transitional rules (CRR/CRD 4) and the full application (CRR/CRD 4 fully loaded) of the CRR/CRD 4 framework. Figures presented for 2013 and 2012 are based on Basel 2.5. The capital ratios relate the respective capital to risk-weighted assets. Until 2013 transitional items pursuant to the former Section 64h (3) of the German Banking Act are excluded. |
The following table shows the dividend per share in euro and in U.S. dollars for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. We declare our dividends at our Annual General Meeting following each year. For 2016, the Management Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting to pay a dividend of 0.19 per share taking into consideration the expected shares to be issued before the Annual General Meeting in May 2017 as part of our announced capital raise. The dividend to be paid out of Deutsche Bank AGs distributable profit for 2016 determined under German accounting rules for its stand-alone financial statements contains a component reflecting the distributable profit carried forward from 2015 of approximately 165 million and a dividend of 0.11 per share out of the remaining distributable profit for 2016. Overall we expect to pay out a total dividend of approximately 400 million in 2017. Our dividends are based on the non-consolidated results of Deutsche Bank AG as prepared in accordance with German accounting principles. Because we declare our dividends in euro, the amount an investor actually receives in any other currency depends on the exchange rate between euro and that currency at the time the euros are converted into that currency.
The German withholding tax applicable to dividends is 26.375 % (consisting of a 25 % withholding tax and an effective 1.375 % surcharge). For individual German tax residents the withholding tax paid represents for private dividends, generally, the full and final income tax applicable to the dividends. Dividend recipients who are tax residents of countries that have entered into a convention for avoiding double taxation may be eligible to receive a refund from the German tax authorities for a portion of the amount withheld and in addition may be entitled to receive a tax credit for the German withholding tax not refunded in accordance with their local tax law.
Deutsche Bank | 12 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
U.S. residents will be entitled to receive a refund equal to 11.375 % of the dividends received. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the dividends we pay are not eligible for the dividends received deduction generally allowed for dividends received by U.S. corporations from other U.S. corporations.
Dividends in the table below are presented before German withholding tax.
See Item 10: Additional Information Taxation for more information on the tax treatment of our dividends.
Payout ratio 2,3 | ||||||||||||||||
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Dividends per share1 |
Dividends |
Basic earnings per share |
Diluted earnings per share |
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2016 (proposed)4 |
$ 0.20 | 0.19 | N/M | N/M | ||||||||||||
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2015 |
$ 0.00 | 0.00 | N/M | N/M | ||||||||||||
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2014 |
$ 0.91 | 0.75 | 56 % | 57 % | ||||||||||||
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2013 |
$ 1.03 | 0.75 | 117 % | 121 % | ||||||||||||
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2012 |
$ 0.99 | 0.75 | 0 % | 0 % | ||||||||||||
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N/M | Not meaningful |
1 | For your convenience, we present dividends in U.S. dollars for each year by translating the euro amounts at the period end rate for the last business day at each year end as described below under Exchange Rate and Currency Information. |
2 | We define our payout ratio as the dividends we paid per share in respect of each year as a percentage of our basic and diluted earnings per share for that year. |
3 | The number of average basic and diluted shares outstanding has been adjusted in order to reflect the effect of the bonus element of the subscription rights issue in connection with the capital increase in June 2014. For 2016 and 2015, there is no dilutive effect as the Group reported a net loss. |
4 | Taking into account expected shares to be issued before the Annual General Meeting in May 2017, the dividend per share of 0.19 paid out of the distributable profit for 2016 contains the pay out of the distributable profit carried forward from 2015 of approximately 165 million and a dividend of 0.11 per share from the remaining distributable profit for 2016. Overall we expect to pay out a total dividend of approximately 400 million in 2017. |
Exchange Rate and Currency Information
Germanys currency is the euro. For your convenience, we have translated some amounts denominated in euro appearing in this document into U.S. dollars. Unless otherwise stated, we have made these translations at U.S.$ 1.0541 per euro, the euro foreign exchange reference rate for U.S. dollars published by the European Central Bank (ECB) for December 31, 2016. ECB euro foreign exchange reference rates are based on a regular daily concertation procedure between central banks across Europe and worldwide, which normally takes place at 2.15 p.m. CET. You should not construe any translations as a representation that the amounts could have been exchanged at the rate used on December 31, 2016 or any other date.
The ECB euro foreign exchange reference rate for U.S. dollars for December 31, 2016 may differ from the actual rates we used in the preparation of the financial information in this document. Accordingly, U.S. dollar amounts appearing in this document may differ from the actual U.S. dollar amounts that we originally translated into euros in the preparation of our financial statements.
Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro and the U.S. dollar will affect the U.S. dollar equivalent of the euro price of our shares quoted on the German stock exchanges and, as a result, are likely to affect the market price of our shares on the New York Stock Exchange. These fluctuations will also affect the U.S. dollar value of cash dividends we may pay on our shares in euros. Past fluctuations in foreign exchange rates may not be predictive of future fluctuations.
13 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Euro foreign exchange reference rates for U.S. dollars as published by the ECB
in U.S.$ per |
Period-end1 | Average2 | High | Low | ||||||||||||
2017 |
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February |
1.0597 | 0.0000 | 1.0808 | 1.0513 | ||||||||||||
January |
1.0755 | 0.0000 | 1.0755 | 1.0385 | ||||||||||||
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2016 |
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December |
1.0541 | 0.0000 | 1.0762 | 1.0364 | ||||||||||||
November |
1.0635 | 0.0000 | 1.1095 | 1.0548 | ||||||||||||
October |
1.0946 | 0.0000 | 1.1236 | 1.0872 | ||||||||||||
September |
1.1161 | 0.0000 | 1.1296 | 1.1146 | ||||||||||||
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2015 |
1.0887 | 1.1046 | 1.2043 | 1.0552 | ||||||||||||
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2014 |
1.2141 | 1.3211 | 1.3953 | 1.2141 | ||||||||||||
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2013 |
1.3791 | 1.3308 | 1.3814 | 1.2768 | ||||||||||||
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2012 |
1.3194 | 1.2932 | 1.3454 | 1.2089 | ||||||||||||
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1 | Period-end rate is the rate announced for the last business day of the period. |
2 | We calculated the average rates for each year using the average of exchange rates on the last business day of each month during the year. We did not calculate average exchange rates within months. |
Capitalization and Indebtedness
Consolidated capitalization in accordance with IFRS as of December 31, 2016
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in m. | |||
Debt:1,2 |
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Long-term debt |
172,316 | |||
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Trust preferred securities |
6,373 | |||
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Long-term debt at fair value through profit or loss |
6,473 | |||
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Total debt |
185,162 | |||
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Shareholders equity: |
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Common shares (no par value) |
3,531 | |||
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Additional paid-in capital |
33,765 | |||
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Retained earnings |
18,987 | |||
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Common shares in treasury, at cost |
0 | |||
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Accumulated other comprehensive income, net of tax |
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Unrealized net gains (losses) on financial assets available for sale, net of applicable tax and other |
912 | |||
Unrealized net gains (losses) on derivatives hedging variability of cash flows, net of tax |
143 | |||
Unrealized net gains (losses) on assets classified as held for sale, net of tax |
0 | |||
Foreign currency translation, net of tax |
2,418 | |||
Unrealized net gains (losses) from equity method investments |
77 | |||
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Total shareholders equity |
59,833 | |||
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Equity component of financial instruments |
4,669 | |||
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Noncontrolling interests |
316 | |||
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Total equity |
64,819 | |||
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Total capitalization |
249,981 | |||
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1 | 820 million (0.4 %) of our debt was guaranteed as of December 31, 2016. This consists of debt of a subsidiary which is guaranteed by the German government. |
2 | 60,594 million (33 %) of our debt was secured as of December 31, 2016. |
Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not required because this document is filed as an annual report.
Deutsche Bank | 14 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
An investment in our securities involves a number of risks. You should carefully consider the following information about the risks we face, together with other information in this document, when you make investment decisions involving our securities. If one or more of these risks were to materialize, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or prices of our securities.
Recent tepid economic growth, and uncertainties about prospects for growth going forward, especially in our home market of Europe, have affected and continue to negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition in some of our businesses and our strategic plans, while a continuing low interest environment and competition in the financial services industry have compressed margins in many of our businesses. If these conditions persist or worsen, our business, results of operations or strategic plans could continue to be adversely affected.
Although economic data appear to have stabilized or improved somewhat during the course of 2016 in many of the countries in which we operate, our business, financial results and strategic plans continue to be negatively impacted by the low interest rate environment, uneven and tepid economic growth, especially in our home markets in Europe, and elevated political uncertainty. Recent and upcoming political events, including the UK referendum on European Union (EU) membership, the recent U.S. presidential election, the Italian referendum on constitutional reform and upcoming national elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands, have contributed to considerable uncertainty concerning the current and future economic environment. Global economic growth also continues to be reliant on the supportive monetary policy stance of the major central banks. While somewhat improving economic conditions in the U.S. and the potential for fiscal stimulus have prompted the Federal Reserve to embark on a course of raising interest rates, the European Central Bank (ECB) has continued its policy of negative interest rates on deposits and its program of monthly asset purchases, although it plans to do so at a somewhat reduced volume starting in April 2017.
The European economy remains subject to a number of potential obstacles to future economic growth beyond the political events summarized above, including renewed doubts about the future of the eurozone, a discussion about the appropriate monetary policy stance of the ECB, possible weakening exports growth should the euro strengthen again or if protectionist trade policies are adopted, a delay in implementing structural reforms and a renewed increase of the refugee inflow. In particular, sentiment towards the Italian banking sector deteriorated in 2016 driven by concerns around capitalization, nonperforming loans and the impact of the EU-wide stress tests. In contrast, global financial markets have reacted relatively positively to the beginning of the normalization of U.S. monetary policy and the potential growth-enhancing measures of the new U.S. presidential administration. Markets could, however, react more negatively to these actions as policy plans begin to take shape, for example if they do not quickly result in anticipated increased economic growth or if protectionist measures dampen global growth. In the emerging markets, growth remained relatively weak in 2016 and could be a source of global economic shocks going forward. A stronger than forecast increase of interest rates in the United States could result in strong capital outflows from the emerging markets, further dampening their outlook. In China, in particular, economic growth continued to slow in 2016, and the economic outlook remains subdued, even as the Peoples Bank of China may take actions to loosen its monetary supply. Should a severe economic contraction or a protracted period of stagnation occur, monetary policymakers, particularly in Europe and the United States but also in the emerging markets, have few tools left in their toolboxes to combat these developments.
Against this background, our results continue to be adversely impacted in particular by the protracted low interest environment and the macro-economic and political uncertainties. The simultaneous easing of monetary policy in the eurozone and the tightening of it in the United States may continue to have disruptive effects on many of our businesses. A further tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve or any decision by central banks more generally to tighten their monetary policy if economies continue to improve could have a material adverse effect on perceptions of liquidity in the financial system and on the global economy more generally, and may adversely affect our business and
15 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
financial position. We may face further uncertainty if, as it currently appears, the net effect of monetary and fiscal policies in the U.S. and the eurozone is to continue to weaken the euro against the U.S. dollar. A stronger U.S. dollar can have a beneficial effect on our revenues, as a significant portion of our revenues is generated in the United States while our results are reported in euro. A stronger U.S. dollar will, however, also increase the euro values of our U.S. dollar-denominated costs and liabilities, including those incurred in respect of U.S. litigation and enforcement matters, and will also tend to significantly increase our risk weighted assets and leverage exposures that are denominated in U.S. dollars. If not fully hedged, this can lead to material declines in our capital ratios, as our capital is preponderantly denominated in euro.
Our results of operation and financial condition, in particular those of our Global Markets corporate division, continue to be negatively impacted by the challenging market environment, unfavorable macro-economic and geopolitical conditions, lower client activities, increased competition and regulation, and the immediate impacts resulting from our strategic decisions as we make progress on the implementation of our strategy. If we are unable to improve our profitability as we continue to face these headwinds as well as persistently high litigation costs, we may be unable to meet many of our strategic aspirations, and may have difficulty maintaining capital, liquidity and leverage ratios at levels expected by market participants and our regulators.
In 2016, our revenues declined in several of our corporate divisions, reflecting the negative impact of the challenging low interest rate market environment, sluggish economic conditions, especially in our home market of Europe, and lower client activities. The implementation of some of the strategic measures as part of our targets originally announced in October 2015 also continues to negatively impact our revenues in the short term. Even as the ultra-low interest rate environment, especially in the eurozone, has put pressure on our margins in our traditional banking business, our trading and markets businesses, in particular our fixed income securities franchise, have not matched the results of many of our international peers as differences in regional economic performance as well as the challenges specific to us have impacted our results.
We have experienced and may continue to experience mark-to-market losses on positions as we seek to manage long positions in our inventory that experience mark-to-market losses in times of high market volatility. These losses can more than offset volatility-driven increases in client activity. This factor, for example, negatively impacted some of the businesses in our Global Markets corporate division early in 2016.
In addition, changes in our business mix towards lower-margin, lower-risk products can limit our opportunities to profit from volatility. Regulators have generally encouraged the banking sector to focus more on the facilitation of client flow and less on risk taking. This has been effected in part by increasing capital requirements for higher-risk activities. In addition, some of our regulators have encouraged or welcomed changes to our business perimeter, consistent with their emphasis on lower-risk activities for banks. Our strategy provides for us to reduce our exposures in a number of businesses that focused on riskier but more capital-intensive products (but that in earlier periods also had the potential to be more highly profitable than those dependent on low-risk, low-margin flow in a very low interest rate environment). Further pressure on our revenues and profitability has resulted from long-term structural trends driven by regulation (especially increased regulatory capital and leverage requirements and increased compliance costs) and competition that have further compressed our margins in many of our businesses. Our strategic decisions on these businesses led in part to impairments we recognized in 2015 in our Corporate Banking & Securities business division (in 2016 part of our Global Markets and Corporate & Investment Banking corporate divisions) and reflect a new view on the medium-term profit potential of these activities. Should a combination of these factors continue to lead to reduced margins and subdued activity levels in our trading and markets business over the longer term, this could reflect structural challenges that may lead us to consider even further-reaching changes to aspects of our business mix than those contained in our targets originally announced in October 2015.
Against this backdrop, we expect the costs to us arising from the resolution of litigation, enforcement and similar matters pending against us to continue to be significant in the near to medium term and to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In particular, these costs could substantially exceed the level of provisions
Deutsche Bank | 16 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
that we established for our litigation, enforcement and similar matters, which can contribute to negative market perceptions about our financial health, costing us business. This, combined with the actual costs of litigation, enforcement and other matters, could in turn adversely affect our ability to maintain capital, liquidity and leverage ratios at levels expected by market participants and our regulators. In particular, we suffered, at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter of 2016, some reduction in business volumes and asset outflows, particularly in some parts of our Global Markets business and of our Wealth Management business, as a result of speculation about the potential magnitude of a settlement of civil claims then being negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with our issuance and underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities. Although these negative effects on our business have abated since then and in some cases have reversed, future market speculation about potential settlement demands with respect to litigation and enforcement matters could have persistent adverse effects on our revenue levels. These factors have placed pressure on the markets for our securities, along with concerns regarding our ability to overcome the numerous headwinds facing us. As a result of the substantial uncertainties with respect to the potential outflows in respect of litigation and enforcement matters as well as the broader prospects for our business, we may find it necessary or desirable to raise additional capital in the future to maintain our capital, leverage and liquidity ratios at levels required by our regulators or viewed by market participants as necessary for our businesses in comparison with our international peers.
Continued elevated levels of political uncertainty could have unpredictable consequences for the financial system and the greater economy, and could contribute to an unwinding of aspects of European integration, potentially leading to declines in business levels, write-downs of assets and losses across our businesses. Our ability to protect ourselves against these risks is limited.
The last several years have been characterized by increased political uncertainty as Europe in particular has been impacted by the European sovereign debt crisis, the outcomes of the referenda in the UK on EU membership and in Italy on constitutional reform, the refugee crisis and the increasing attractiveness to voters of populist and anti-austerity movements. Although the severity of the European debt crisis appeared to have abated somewhat over recent years as the actions by the ECB, the rescue packages and the economic recovery appeared to have stabilized the situation in Europe, political uncertainty has nevertheless continued to be at an elevated level in recent periods and could trigger the unwinding of aspects of European integration that have benefitted our businesses. Against this backdrop, the prospects for national structural reform and further integration among EU member states, both viewed as important tools to reduce the eurozones vulnerabilities to future crises, appear to have worsened. These trends may ultimately result in material reductions in our business levels as our customers rein in activity levels in light of decreased economic output and increased uncertainty, which would materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
An escalation of political risks could have unpredictable consequences both for the financial system and the greater economy as a whole, potentially leading to declines in business levels, write-downs of assets and losses across our businesses. In particular, the UK voted on June 23, 2016 in a non-binding national referendum to withdraw from the EU (Brexit). On January 24, 2017, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the UK is not authorized to formally give notice to the European Council without an act of Parliament. Nonetheless, the UK appears to be on course to formally give notice to the European Council in March, at which time potentially tense and highly uncertain negotiations regarding the UKs exit from the EU would commence. Given these and other uncertainties in connection with the UKs withdrawal from the EU, it is difficult to determine the exact impact on us over the long term. We are also unable to determine with any precision the impact of Brexit on our current UK structure or business model in the short term, as there remains no clarity into the details or timing of the changes. However, the UKs economy and those of the eurozone countries are very tightly linked as a result of EU integration projects other than the euro, and the scale of our businesses in the UK especially those dependent on activity levels in the City of London, to which we are heavily exposed and which may deteriorate as a result of Brexit means that even modest effects in percentage terms can have a very substantial adverse effect on our businesses. In addition, a number of EU member states face national elections in 2017, including France, Germany and the Netherlands (and likely Italy), and political parties disfavoring current levels of European
17 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
integration, or espousing the unwinding of European integration to varying extents, are performing relatively well in pre-election polling. The Brexit vote has also given a voice to some of these political parties to challenge European integration. The resulting uncertainty could have significant effects on the value of the euro and on prospects for member states financial stability, which in turn could potentially lead to a significant deterioration of the sovereign debt market,especially if Brexit or any other member countrys exit did not result in the catastrophic effects on the exiting country that many have predicted. If one or more members of the eurozone defaults on their debt obligations or decides to leave the common currency, this would result in the reintroduction of one or more national currencies. Should a eurozone country conclude it must exit the common currency, the resulting need to reintroduce a national currency and restate existing contractual obligations could have unpredictable financial, legal, political and social consequences, leading not only to significant losses on sovereign debt but also on private debt in that country. Given the highly interconnected nature of the financial system within the eurozone, and the high levels of exposure we have to public and private counterparties around Europe, our ability to plan for such a contingency in a manner that would reduce our exposure to non-material levels is likely to be limited. If the overall economic climate deteriorates as a result of one or more departures from the eurozone, our businesses could be adversely affected, and, if overall business levels decline or we are forced to write down significant exposures among our various businesses, we could incur substantial losses.
We may be required to take impairments on our exposures to the sovereign debt of European or other countries if the European sovereign debt crisis reignites. The credit default swaps into which we have entered to manage sovereign credit risk may not be available to offset these losses.
The effects of the sovereign debt crisis have been especially evident in the financial sector, as a large portion of the sovereign debt of eurozone countries is held by European financial institutions, including us. As of December 31, 2016, we had a direct sovereign credit risk exposure of 2.7 billion to Italy, 1.3 billion to Spain, 61 million to Portugal, 569 million to Ireland and 89 million to Greece. Despite the apparent abatement of the crisis in recent years, it remains uncertain whether, in light of the current political environment, Greece or other eurozone sovereigns, such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus, will be able to manage their debt levels in the future and whether Greece will attempt to renegotiate its past international debt restructuring. The rise of anti-austerity parties and populist sentiment in many of these countries poses a threat to the medium- to long-term measures recommended for these countries to alleviate the tensions in the eurozone caused by drastically differing economic situations among the eurozone states. In the future, negotiations or exchanges similar to the Greek debt restructuring in 2012 could take place with respect to the sovereign debt of these or other affected countries. The outcome of any negotiations regarding changed terms (including reduced principal amounts or extended maturities) of sovereign debt may result in additional impairments of assets on our balance sheet. Any negotiations are highly likely to be subject to political and economic pressures that we cannot control, and we are unable to predict their effects on the financial markets, on the greater economy or on ourselves.
In addition, any restructuring of outstanding sovereign debt may result in potential losses for us and other market participants that are not covered by payouts on hedging instruments that we have entered into to protect against the risk of default. These instruments largely consist of credit default swaps, generally referred to as CDSs, pursuant to which one party agrees to make a payment to another party if a credit event (such as a default) occurs on the identified underlying debt obligation. A sovereign restructuring that avoids a credit event through voluntary write-downs of value may not trigger the provisions in CDSs we have entered into, meaning that our exposures in the event of a write-down could exceed the exposures we previously viewed as our net exposure after hedging. Additionally, even if the CDS provisions are triggered, the amounts ultimately paid under the CDSs may not correspond to the full amount of any loss we incur. We also face the risk that our hedging counterparties have not effectively hedged their own exposures and may be unable to provide the necessary liquidity if payments under the instruments they have written are triggered. This may result in systemic risk for the European banking sector as a whole and may negatively affect our business and financial position.
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Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Our liquidity, business activities and profitability may be adversely affected by an inability to access the debt capital markets or to sell assets during periods of market-wide or firm-specific liquidity constraints. Credit rating downgrades have contributed to an increase in our funding costs, and any future downgrade could materially adversely affect our funding costs, the willingness of counterparties to continue to do business with us and significant aspects of our business model.
We have a continuous demand for liquidity to fund our business activities. Our liquidity may be impaired by an inability to access secured and/or unsecured debt markets, an inability to access funds from our subsidiaries or otherwise allocate liquidity optimally across our businesses, an inability to sell assets or redeem our investments, or unforeseen outflows of cash or collateral. This situation may arise due to circumstances unrelated to our businesses and outside our control, such as disruptions in the financial markets, or circumstances specific to us, such as reluctance of our counterparties or the market to finance our operations due to perceptions about potential outflows resulting from litigation, regulatory and similar matters, actual or perceived weaknesses in our businesses, our business model or our strategy, as well as in our resilience to counter negative economic and market conditions. For example, we have over the last year, as well as in the past, experienced steep declines in the price of our shares and increases in the spread versus government bonds at which our debt trades in the secondary markets. Reflecting these conditions, our internal estimates of our available liquidity over the duration of a stressed scenario has at times been negatively impacted in recent periods. Such effects were particularly acute in the autumn of 2016 in response to market speculation about the potential magnitude of a settlement of civil claims then being negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with our issuance and underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities. In addition, negative developments concerning other financial institutions perceived to be comparable to us and negative views about the financial services industry in general have also affected us in recent years. These perceptions have affected the prices at which we have accessed the capital markets to obtain the necessary funding to support our business activities; should these perceptions worsen, our ability to obtain this financing on acceptable terms may be adversely affected. Among other things, an inability to refinance assets on our balance sheet or maintain appropriate levels of capital to protect against deteriorations in their value could force us to liquidate assets we hold at depressed prices or on unfavorable terms, and could also force us to curtail business, such as the extension of new credit. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we have benefited in recent years from a number of incremental measures by the ECB and other central banks to provide additional liquidity to financial institutions and the financial markets, particularly in the eurozone. To the extent these actions are curtailed or halted, our funding costs could increase, or our funding supply could decrease, which could in turn result in a reduction in our business activities. In particular, any decision by the ECB to discontinue or reduce quantitative easing or further steps by the Federal Reserve to tighten its monetary policy or actions by central banks more generally to tighten their monetary policy will likely cause long-term interest rates to increase and accordingly impact the costs of our funding.
Since the start of the global financial crisis, the major credit rating agencies have lowered our credit ratings or placed them on review or negative watch on multiple occasions. These credit rating downgrades have contributed to an increase in our funding costs, and any future downgrade could materially affect our funding costs, although we are unable to predict whether this would be the case or the extent of any such effect. The effect would depend on a number of factors including whether a downgrade affects financial institutions across the industry or on a regional basis, or is intended to reflect circumstances specific to us, such as our potential settlement of regulatory, litigation and similar matters; any actions our senior management may take in advance of or in response to the downgrade; the willingness of counterparties to continue to do business with us; any impact of other market events and the state of the macroeconomic environment more generally. In particular, should any of the major credit rating agencies lower our credit rating to a level considered sub-investment grade, significant aspects of our business model would be materially and adversely affected.
19 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Additionally, under many of the contracts governing derivative instruments to which we are a party, a downgrade could require us to post additional collateral, lead to terminations of contracts with accompanying payment obligations for us or give counterparties additional remedies. We take these effects into account in our liquidity stress testing analysis, as further described in Management Report: Risk Report: Liquidity Risk: Stress Testing and Scenario Analysis on pages 129 through 130 of the Annual Report 2016.
Regulatory reforms enacted and proposed in response to weaknesses in the financial sector, together with increased regulatory scrutiny more generally, have created significant uncertainty for us and may adversely affect our business and ability to execute our strategic plans, and competent regulators may prohibit us from making dividend payments or payments on our regulatory capital instruments or take other actions if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements.
In response to the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis, governments, regulatory authorities and others have made and continue to make proposals to reform the regulatory framework for the financial services industry to enhance its resilience against future crises. Legislation has been enacted and regulations have been issued in response to many of these proposals, while others continue to be developed. The regulatory framework for financial institutions is likely to undergo further significant change. This creates significant uncertainty for us and the financial industry in general. The wide range of new laws and regulations or current proposals includes, among other things:
| provisions for more stringent regulatory capital, leverage and liquidity standards, |
| restrictions on compensation practices, |
| restrictions on proprietary trading and other investment activities, |
| special bank levies and financial transaction taxes, |
| recovery and resolution powers to intervene in a crisis including bail-in of creditors, |
| large exposure limits, |
| the creation of a single supervisory authority and a single resolution authority within the eurozone and any other participating member states, |
| separation of certain businesses from deposit taking, |
| stress testing and capital planning regimes, |
| heightened reporting requirements, and |
| reforms of derivatives, other financial instruments, investment products and market infrastructures. |
In addition, regulatory scrutiny under existing laws and regulations has become more intense. The specific effects of a number of new laws and regulations remain uncertain because the drafting and implementation of these laws and regulations are still on-going. For example, in 2016 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published its final revised standards for market risk following the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book, or FRTB, and consultative documents on revising the standardized approach for credit risk, operational risk, constraining the use of internal models for credit risk, capital floors, and revisions to the leverage ratio. Also in 2016, the Basel Committee published, among other things, changes to the calculation of interest rate risk in the banking book, or IRRBB. The changes contemplated by the FRTB and IRRBB as well as the proposals to implement the standardized approach for credit risk, among other things, are part of the EC proposals published on November 23, 2016 to change the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package. Furthermore, European Union and U.S. regulators have implemented or are expected to propose rules implementing the further revisions to credit risk, operational risk and capital floors in 2018. Full compliance with the European Union rules could be required at some point between 2020 and 2025. The proposed changes could lead to a significant increase of our risk-weighted assets and, as a result, a higher capital demand, changes in our deductions from our regulatory capital and the imposition of additional capital charges to cover credit, market and operational risk. These requirements may be in addition to regulatory capital buffers that may also be increased or be in addition to those already imposed on us and could themselves materially increase our capital requirements.
Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in how to regulate banks, and this discretion, and the means available to the regulators, have been steadily increasing during recent years. Regulation may be imposed on an ad hoc basis by governments and regulators in response to ongoing or future crises, and may especially affect financial institutions such as us that are deemed to be systemically important.
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Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
In particular, the regulators with jurisdiction over us, including the ECB under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (also referred to as the SSM), may, in connection with the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) or otherwise, conduct stress tests and have discretion to impose capital surcharges on financial institutions for risks, including for litigation, regulatory and similar matters, that are not otherwise recognized in risk-weighted assets or other surcharges depending on the individual situation of the bank and take or require other measures, such as restrictions on or changes to our business. In this context, the ECB may impose on us individual capital requirements resulting from the SREP which are referred to as Pillar 2 requirements. Pillar 2 requirements must be fulfilled with Common Equity Tier 1 capital in addition to the statutory minimum capital and buffer requirements and any non-compliance may have immediate legal consequences such as restrictions on dividend payments. Also following the SREP, the ECB may communicate to individual banks an expectation to hold a further Pillar 2 Common Equity Tier 1 capital add-on, the so-called Pillar 2 guidance. Although the Pillar 2 guidance is not legally binding and failure to meet the Pillar 2 guidance does not automatically trigger legal action, the ECB has stated that it expects banks to meet the Pillar 2 guidance. Also, more generally, competent regulators may, if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements, in particular with statutory minimum capital requirements, Pillar 2 requirements or buffer requirements, or if there are shortcomings in our governance and risk management processes, prohibit us from making dividend payments to shareholders or distributions to holders of our other regulatory capital instruments. This could occur, for example, if we fail to make sufficient profits due to declining revenues, or substantial outflows due to litigation, regulatory and similar matters. Generally, a failure to comply with the new quantitative and qualitative regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including our ability to pay out dividends to shareholders or distributions on our other regulatory capital instruments or, in certain circumstances, conduct business which we currently conduct or plan to conduct in the future.
European and German legislation regarding the recovery and resolution of banks and investment firms could, if steps were taken to ensure our resolvability or resolution measures were imposed on us, significantly affect our business operations, and lead to losses for our shareholders and creditors.
Germany participates in the Single Resolution Mechanism (referred to as the SRM), which centralizes at a European level the key competences and resources for managing the failure of any bank in member states of the European Union participating in the banking union. The SRM is based on the SRM Regulation and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (or BRRD), which was implemented in Germany through the German Recovery and Resolution Act (Sanierungs- und Abwicklungsgesetz, SAG). In addition, the German Resolution Mechanism Act (Abwicklungs-mechanismusgesetz) adapted German bank resolution laws to the SRM.
The SRM Regulation and the German Recovery and Resolution Act require the preparation of recovery and resolution plans for banks and grant broad powers to public authorities to intervene in a bank which is failing or likely to fail. For a bank directly supervised by the ECB, such as us, the Single Resolution Board (referred to as the SRB) assesses its resolvability and may require legal and operational changes to the banks structure to ensure its resolvability. In the event that such bank is failing or likely to fail and certain other conditions are met, the SRB is responsible for adopting a resolution scheme for resolving the bank pursuant to the SRM Regulation. The European Commission and, to a lesser extent, the Council of the European Union, have a role in endorsing or objecting to the resolution scheme proposed by the SRB. The resolution scheme would be addressed to and implemented by the competent national resolution authorities (in Germany: the Federal Agency for Financial Market Stabilization, FMSA) in line with the national laws implementing the BRRD. Resolution measures that could be imposed upon a failing bank may include a range of measures including the transfer of shares, assets or liabilities of the bank to another legal entity, the reduction, including to zero, of the nominal value of shares, the dilution of shareholders of a failing bank or the cancellation of shares outright, or the amendment, modification or variation of the terms of the banks outstanding debt instruments, for example by way of a deferral of payments or a reduction of the applicable interest rate. Furthermore, certain eligible unsecured liabilities, in particular certain senior unsecured debt instruments specified by the German Banking Act, as amended by the German Resolution Mechanism Act, may be written down, including to zero, or converted into equity (commonly referred to as bail-in).
21 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
In order to facilitate the authorities bail-in powers, which became effective in Germany on January 1, 2015, banks are required to include in their eligible liabilities issued under non-EU law conditions to the effect that the respective counterparties recognize the regulatory powers to write down or convert such liabilities as well as other resolution powers. The SRM Regulation, the BRRD and the Recovery and Resolution Act are intended to eliminate, or reduce, the need for public support of troubled banks. Therefore, financial public support for such banks, if any, would be used only as a last resort after having assessed and exploited, to the maximum extent practicable, the resolution powers, including a bail-in. The taking of actions to ensure our resolvability or the exercise of resolution powers by the competent resolution authority could materially affect our business operations and lead to a significant dilution of our shareholders or even the total loss of our shareholders or creditors investment.
Regulatory and legislative changes require us to maintain increased capital, in some cases (including in the United States) applying liquidity, risk management and capital adequacy rules to our local operations on a standalone basis. These requirements may significantly affect our business model, financial condition and results of operations as well as the competitive environment generally. Any perceptions in the market that we may be unable to meet our capital or liquidity requirements with an adequate buffer, or that we should maintain capital in excess of these requirements, could intensify the effect of these factors on our business and results.
In December 2010, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a set of comprehensive changes to the capital adequacy framework, known as Basel 3, which have been implemented into European Union law by a legislative package referred to as CRR/CRD 4. The CRR/CRD 4 legislative package includes a European Union regulation (which is referred to as the Capital Requirements Regulation or CRR) which is directly enforceable as law in every member state of the European Union, and a European Union directive (which is referred to as the Capital Requirements Directive or CRD 4), which has been implemented into national (in our case German) law. CRR/CRD 4 became effective on January 1, 2014, with some of the regulatory adjustments being gradually phased in through January 1, 2019. CRR/CRD 4 contains, among other things, detailed rules on regulatory banking capital, increased capital requirements and the introduction of additional capital buffers (which will increase from year to year) as well as new and tightened liquidity standards and the introduction of a leverage ratio not based upon risk-weightings. We are subject to additional capital buffers, including as a result of being designated a global systemically important bank, or G-SIB. In July 2013, U.S. federal bank regulators issued final rules implementing many elements of the Basel 3 capital adequacy framework in the United States. The impact and implementation of the Basel 3 capital adequacy framework is being assessed and monitored by regulators on a regular basis. Further revisions, such as stricter rules on the measurement of risks proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, could further increase risk-weighted assets and the corresponding capital demand for banks.
Furthermore, under the SRM Regulation, the BRRD and the German Recovery and Resolution Act, banks in the European Union are required to meet at all times a robust minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) which is determined on a case-by-case basis by the competent resolution authority. In addition, on November 9, 2015, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a new standard applicable to all G-SIBs (and not only European G-SIBs), such as us, that will require, when transposed as law, G-SIBs, such as us, to meet a new firm-specific minimum requirement for total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) starting on January 1, 2019. Also in order to facilitate the meeting of TLAC requirements by German banks, obligations of banks under certain, specifically defined senior unsecured debt instruments issued by them (such as bonds that are not structured products) rank, as from 2017, junior to all other outstanding unsecured unsubordinated obligations of such bank (such as certain structured products), without technically constituting subordinated debt, but continue to rank in priority to contractually or otherwise subordinated debt instruments. Both the TLAC and MREL requirements are specifically designed to require banks to maintain a sufficient amount of instruments which are eligible to absorb losses in resolution with the aim of ensuring that failing banks can be resolved without recourse to taxpayers money. On November, 23, 2016, the European Commission published a proposal to implement the FSBs TLAC standard in the European Union and align it with MREL and also harmonize national rules on the priority of claims of banks creditors in the European Union. This review comes as part of a broader review of the CRR/CRD 4 rules incorporating changes to the market risk framework, liquidity framework and leverage ratio calculation, amongst others. These rules are now subject to the EU co-decision process and will likely be subject to change over the coming months. Furthermore, on December 15, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board adopted final rules that implement the FSBs TLAC standard in the United States. The final rules, which apply beginning in 2019, require, among other things, the U.S. intermediate holding companies (IHCs) of non-U.S. G-SIBs,
Deutsche Bank | 22 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
including our IHC, DB USA Corporation, to maintain a minimum amount of TLAC, and separately require them to maintain a minimum amount of long-term debt. While the final impact of the MREL and TLAC requirements will depend on their final implementation, the need to comply with such requirements, and the change in ranking of certain debt instruments issued by us, may affect our business, financial condition and results of operation and in particular may increase our financing costs.
We may not have sufficient capital or other loss-absorbing liabilities to meet these increasing regulatory requirements. This could occur due to regulatory changes and other factors, such as the gradual phase out of our hybrid capital instruments qualifying as Additional Tier 1 (or AT1) capital or our inability to issue new securities which are recognized as regulatory capital or loss-absorbing liabilities under the new standards, due to an increase of risk-weighted assets based on more stringent rules for the measurement of risks or as a result of a continued decline in the value of the euro as compared to other currencies, due to stricter requirements for the compliance with the non-risk based leverage ratio, due to any substantial losses we may incur, which would reduce our retained earnings, a component of Common Equity Tier 1 capital, or due to a combination of these or other factors.
If we are unable to maintain sufficient capital to meet the statutory minimum capital requirements, the buffer requirements or any specific Pillar 2 capital requirements imposed on us by the ECB or capital ratios expected by the market, we may become subject to enforcement actions and/or restrictions on the pay-out of dividends, share buybacks, payments on our other regulatory capital instruments, and discretionary compensation payments. In addition, any requirement to increase risk-based capital ratios or the leverage ratio could lead us to adopt a strategy focusing on capital preservation and creation over revenue generation and profit growth, including the reduction of higher margin risk-weighted assets. If we are unable to increase our capital ratios to the regulatory minimum in such a case or by raising new capital through the capital markets, through the reduction of risk-weighted assets or through other means, we may be required to activate our group recovery plan. If these actions or other private or supervisory actions do not restore capital ratios to the levels required under the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package, and we are failing or likely to fail, competent authorities may apply resolution powers under the SRM Regulation, the German Recovery and Resolution Act and other applicable rules and regulations, which could lead to a significant dilution of our shareholders or even the total loss of our shareholders or creditors investment.
Moreover, we are required to hold and calculate capital and to comply with rules on liquidity and risk management separately for our local operations in different jurisdictions. In the United States, the Federal Reserve Board has adopted rules that impose enhanced prudential standards on our U.S. operations. In February 2014, the Federal Reserve Board adopted U.S. prudential reforms (the FBO Rules) applicable to foreign banking organizations (FBOs). FBOs with U.S.$ 50 billion or more in U.S. non-branch assets, such as us, were required to establish or designate a separately capitalized top-tier U.S. IHC to hold substantially all of the FBOs ownership interests in U.S. subsidiaries by July 1, 2016. On July 1, 2016, we designated DB USA Corporation as our IHC and, as of that date, DB USA Corporation became subject, on a consolidated basis, to the capital requirements under the U.S. Basel 3 capital framework, capital planning and stress testing requirements (on a phased-in basis), U.S. liquidity buffer requirements and other enhanced prudential standards comparable to those applicable to top-tier U.S. bank holding companies of a similar size. Certain of these requirements also apply to our New York branch. The Federal Reserve Board has the authority to examine DB USA Corporation and any of its subsidiaries, as well as our New York branch. U.S. leverage ratio and supplementary leverage ratio requirements applicable to the IHC will take effect beginning in January 2018.
In September 2014, the Federal Reserve Board and other U.S. regulators approved a final rule implementing liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements for large U.S. banking holding companies and certain of their subsidiary depositary institutions that are generally consistent with the Basel Committees revised Basel 3 liquidity standards. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation became subject to a modified, less stringent version of the LCR beginning in January 2016, and DB USA Corporation and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas will become subject to the full LCR on April 1, 2017. Once DB USA Corporation becomes subject to the full LCR, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will no longer be subject to a standalone LCR requirement.
23 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
On June 1, 2016, the Federal Reserve and other U.S. regulators proposed rules implementing the second element of the Basel 3 liquidity framework, the net stable funding ratio (NSFR), which measures whether an institution maintains sufficiently stable amounts of longer-term funding. Under the proposed rules DB USA Corporation and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas would be subject to the full NSFR on January 1, 2018.
Our combined U.S. operations, including our New York branch, are expected to become subject to additional quantitative requirements related to liquidity and risk management.
Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation is subject to risk-based and leverage capital requirements, liquidity requirements, and other enhanced prudential standards applicable to large U.S. bank holding companies. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation also became subject to capital planning and stress testing requirements on June 30, 2014. On June 29, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board publicly indicated that it had objected to Deutsche Bank Trust Corporations 2016 capital plan submission due to weaknesses in its capital planning processes. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporations stressed Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio, however, was forecast by the Federal Reserve Board to substantially exceed the minimum required ratio under the supervisory severely adverse scenario. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will submit its 2017 capital plan, incorporating enhancements to its processes, on April 5, 2017. The Federal Reserve has indicated that this capital plan will be judged publicly only on a quantitative basis. DB USA Corporation will provide its first capital plan submission to the Federal Reserve Board in April 2017; however, the results of its first submission will not be made public by the Federal Reserve Board. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will remain subject to the capital planning and stress-testing requirements and certain enhanced prudential standards until corresponding requirements applicable to DB USA Corporation become fully effective in January 2018. It is possible this compliance date will be amended when the final U.S. NSFR rule is published.
Title I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the Dodd-Frank Act) and the implementing regulations require each bank holding company with assets of U.S.$ 50 billion or more, including Deutsche Bank AG, to prepare and submit annually a plan for the orderly resolution of subsidiaries and operations in the event of future material financial distress or failure (the Title I US Resolution Plan). For foreign-based covered companies such as Deutsche Bank AG, the Title I US Resolution Plan only relates to subsidiaries, branches, agencies and businesses that are domiciled in or conducted in whole or in material part in the United States. Deutsche Bank AG filed its most recent Title I US Resolution Plan in July 2015 and, as a foreign-based covered company, was not required to file one in 2016. In addition to the Title I US Resolution Plan, in 2014, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (DBTCA), one of our insured depository institutions (IDIs) in the United States, became subject to the FDICs final rule requiring IDIs with total assets of U.S.$ 50 billion or more to submit periodically to the FDIC a plan for resolution in the event of failure (the IDI Rule). In 2014, we expanded our Title I US Resolution Plan to also be responsive to the IDI Rule requirements, and in 2015 DBTCA submitted a separate resolution plan under the IDI Rule. Our next Title I US Resolution Plan filing is expected to be due on July 1, 2017. If the Federal Reserve Board and the FDIC were to jointly deem our Title I US Resolution Plan not credible and we failed to remedy the deficiencies in the required timeframe, we could be required to restructure or reorganize businesses, legal entities, operational systems and/or intra-company transactions in ways that may negatively impact our operations and strategy, or could be subject to restrictions on growth. We could also eventually be subjected to more stringent capital, leverage or liquidity requirements, or be required to divest certain assets or operations.
U.S. rules and interpretations, including those described above, could cause us to reduce assets held in the United States, inject capital and/or liquidity into or otherwise change the structure of our U.S. operations. To the extent that we are required to reduce operations in the United States or deploy capital in the United States that could be deployed more profitably elsewhere, these requirements could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Deutsche Bank | 24 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Any increased capital or liquidity requirements, including those described above, could have adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as on perceptions in the market of our stability, particularly if any such proposal becomes effective and results in our having to raise capital at a time when financial markets are distressed. If these regulatory requirements must be implemented more quickly than currently foreseen, we may decide that the quickest and most reliable path to compliance is to reduce the level of assets on our balance sheet, dispose of divisions or separate out certain activities or reduce or close down certain business lines. The effects on our capital raising efforts in such a case could be amplified due to the expectation that our competitors, at least those subject to the same or similar capital requirements, would likely also be required to raise capital at the same time. Moreover, some of our competitors, particularly those outside the European Union, may not face the same or similar regulations, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage.
In addition to these regulatory initiatives, market sentiment may encourage financial institutions such as us to maintain significantly more capital, liquidity and loss-absorbing capital instruments than regulatory-mandated minima, which could exacerbate the effects on us described above or, if we do not increase our capital to the encouraged levels, could lead to the perception in the market that we are undercapitalized relative to our peers generally.
It is unclear whether the increased U.S. capital and other requirements described above, as well as similar developments in other jurisdictions could lead to a fragmentation of supervision of global banks that could adversely affect our reliance on regulatory waivers allowing us to meet capital adequacy requirements, large exposure limits and certain organizational requirements on a consolidated basis only rather than on both a consolidated and non-consolidated basis. Should we no longer be entitled to rely on these waivers, we would have to adapt and take the steps necessary in order to meet regulatory capital requirements and other requirements on a consolidated as well as a non-consolidated basis, which could result also in significantly higher costs and potential effects on our profitability and dividend paying ability.
Our regulatory capital and liquidity ratios and our funds available for distributions on our shares or regulatory capital instruments will be affected by our business decisions and, in making such decisions, our interests and those of the holders of such instruments may not be aligned, and we may take decisions in accordance with applicable law and the terms of the relevant instruments that result in no or lower payments being made on our shares or regulatory capital instruments.
Our regulatory capital and liquidity ratios are affected by a number of factors, including decisions we make relating to our businesses and operations as well as the management of our capital position, of our risk-weighted assets and of our balance sheet in general, and external factors, such as regulations regarding the risk weightings we are permitted to allocate to our assets, commercial and market risks or the costs of our legal proceedings. While we and our management are required to take into account a broad range of considerations in our and their managerial decisions, including the interests of the Bank as a regulated institution and those of our shareholders and creditors, particularly in times of weak earnings and increasing capital requirements, the regulatory requirements to build capital and liquidity may become paramount. Accordingly, in making decisions in respect of our capital and liquidity management, we are not required to adhere to the interests of the holders of instruments we have issued that qualify for inclusion in our regulatory capital, such as our Additional Tier 1 capital instruments. We may decide not to take any measures, including increasing our capital at a time when it is feasible to do so (through securities issuances or otherwise), even if our failure to take such an action would result in a non-payment or a write-down or other recovery- or resolution-related measure in respect of any of our regulatory capital instruments. Our decisions could cause the holders of such regulatory capital instruments to lose all or part of the value of their investments in these instruments due to their effect on our regulatory capital ratios, and such holders will not have any claim against us relating to such decisions, even if they result in a non-payment or a write-down or other recovery- or resolution-related measure in respect of such instruments they hold.
In addition, our annual profit and distributable reserves form an important part of the funds available for us to pay dividends on our shares and make payments on our other regulatory capital instruments, as determined in the case of each such instrument by its terms or by operation of law, and any adverse change in our financial prospects, financial position or profitability, or our distributable reserves, each as calculated on an unconsolidated basis, may have a material adverse effect on our ability to make dividend or other payments on these instruments. In addition, as part of the
25 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
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implementation of our strategy, we may record impairments that reduce the carrying value of subsidiaries on our unconsolidated balance sheet and reduce profits and distributable reserves. Future impairments or other events that reduce our profit or distributable reserves on an unconsolidated basis could lead us to be unable to make such payments in respect of future years in part or at all. In particular, the direct costs of our potential settlements of litigation, enforcement and similar matters, especially to the extent in excess of provisions we have established for them, and their related business impacts, if they occur, could impact such distributable amounts.
In addition, German law places limits on the distribution of annual profits and otherwise-distributable reserves, as calculated on an unconsolidated basis, to be distributed to our shareholders or the holders of our other regulatory capital instruments, such as our Additional Tier 1 capital instruments. Our management also has, subject to applicable law, broad discretion under the applicable accounting principles to influence all amounts relevant for calculating funds available for distribution. Such decisions may impact our ability to make dividend or other payments under the terms of our regulatory capital instruments.
Consistent with our updated strategy, our Management Board intends to propose to our Annual General Meeting in May 2017 to resolve the payment of a dividend of 0.19 per share. The dividend to be paid out of Deutsche Bank AGs distributable profit for 2016 determined under German accounting rules for its stand-alone financial statements contains a component reflecting the distributable profit carried forward from 2015 of approximately 165 million and a dividend of 0.11 per share out of the remaining distributable profit for 2016. Overall we expect to pay out a total dividend of approximately 400 million in 2017.
Legislation in the United States and in Germany as well as proposals in the European Union regarding the prohibition of proprietary trading or its separation from the deposit-taking business may materially affect our business model.
On December 10, 2013, U.S. regulators released the final version of the rules implementing the Volcker Rule, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The final rules prohibit U.S. insured depository institutions and companies that control or are affiliated with U.S. insured depository institutions (such as us) from engaging in proprietary trading of certain securities, derivatives, commodity futures and options on these instruments, for their own account. The final rules also impose limits or restrictions on investments in, and other relationships with, hedge funds, private equity funds and other private funds and limit the ability of banking entities and their affiliates to enter into certain transactions with such funds with which they or their affiliates have certain relationships. The Volcker Rule requires banking entities to establish comprehensive compliance programs designed to help ensure and monitor compliance with restrictions under the Volcker Rule. The Federal Reserve Board has extended the Volcker Rules general conformance period for investments in and relationships with covered funds and certain foreign funds that were in place on or prior to December 31, 2013 until July 21, 2017. The extension of the conformance period does not apply to the Volcker Rules prohibitions on proprietary trading or to any investments in and relationships with covered funds made or entered into after December 31, 2013.
In Germany, the German Act on the Separation of Risks and Recovery and Resolution Planning for Credit Institutions and Banking Groups (Trennbankengesetz), referred to as the Separation Act, provides that deposit-taking banks and their affiliates are prohibited from engaging in proprietary trading that does not constitute a service for others, high-frequency trading (with the exception of market-making activities), and credit or guarantee transactions with hedge funds and comparable enterprises, unless such activities are transferred to a separate legal entity. The separation requirement applies if certain thresholds are exceeded, which we exceed. In addition, the German Separation Act authorizes the BaFin, since July 1, 2016, to prohibit the deposit-taking bank and its affiliates, on a case-by-case basis, from engaging in market-making and other activities that are comparable to the activities prohibited by law, if these activities may put the solvency of the deposit-taking bank or any of its affiliates at risk. In the event that the BaFin orders such a prohibition, the respective activities must be discontinued or transferred to a separate legal entity (referred to as financial trading institution (Finanzhandelsinstitut)). The prohibition for deposit-taking banks and their affiliates to conduct activities associated with increased risks became effective on July 1, 2015, with a further transitional period of
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twelve months to accomplish the separation requirement, unless the BaFin extends this period. For Deutsche Bank Group, the period to cease or transfer activities concerned was extended by the BaFin until June 30, 2017. Non-compliance with the prohibitions set forth in the German Separation Act could ultimately result in civil and criminal liability.
On January 29, 2014, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on structural measures improving the resilience of European Union credit institutions (referred to as Proposed Regulation), which if enacted, will impose measures similar to the German Separation Act. The Proposed Regulation would apply to large banks which are either identified as G-SIBs (such as us), or whose total assets and trading activities exceed certain thresholds (which we exceed). If the Proposed Regulation were enacted as proposed, it would, inter alia, ban proprietary trading in financial instruments and commodities. On June 19, 2015, the Council of the European Union agreed its position at first reading on the Proposed Regulation, which contains significant amendments to the Proposed Regulation. If adopted, the Proposed Regulation might overrule certain requirements set out in the German Separation Act at the national level. The ultimate impact on us of the Proposed Regulation will depend on the content of the final version.
The Volcker Rule, the German Separation Act and the Proposed Regulation may have significant implications for the future structure and strategy of our Group, and may increase our Groups funding costs. This could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Other regulatory reforms adopted or proposed in the wake of the financial crisis for example, extensive new regulations governing our derivatives activities, compensation, bank levies, deposit protection or a possible financial transaction tax may materially increase our operating costs and negatively impact our business model.
Beyond capital requirements, recovery and resolution planning, separation of certain bank activities and other requirements discussed above, we are affected, or expect to be affected, by various additional regulatory reforms adopted or proposed in the wake of the financial crisis including, among other things, new regulations governing our derivatives activities, compensation, bank levies, deposit protection or a possible financial transaction tax.
On August 16, 2012, the EU Regulation on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories, referred to as EMIR, entered into force. While a number of the compliance requirements introduced by EMIR already apply, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is still in the process of finalizing some of the implementing rules mandated by EMIR. EMIR introduced a number of requirements, including clearing obligations for certain classes of OTC derivatives and various reporting and disclosure obligations. Although some of the particular effects brought about by EMIR are not yet fully foreseeable, many of its elements have led and may lead to changes which may negatively impact our profit margins, require us to adjust our business practices or increase our costs (including compliance costs). The new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the corresponding Regulation (MiFIR) introduce, among other changes, a trading obligation for those OTC derivatives which are subject to mandatory clearing and which are sufficiently standardized. MiFID II/MiFIR are foreseen to be applicable to us starting on January 3, 2018. MiFID II needs yet to be transposed into national law, and ESMA and the European Commission yet have to finalize several related implementing regulations. We will also be impacted by the BCBS-IOSCO final minimum standards for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives, for which enabling legislation exists in the EU (EMIR) but where much of the impact depends on how these requirements are implemented.
In the United States, the Dodd-Frank Act has numerous provisions that may affect our operations. Pursuant to regulations implementing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, we registered as a swap dealer with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and became subject to the CFTCs extensive oversight. Regulation of swap dealers by the CFTC imposes numerous corporate governance, business conduct, capital, margin, reporting, clearing, execution and other regulatory requirements on us. It also requires us to comply with certain U.S. rules in some circumstances with respect to transactions conducted outside of the United States or with non-U.S. persons. Although the coverage of EMIR and CFTC regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Act is in many ways similar, certain swaps may be subject to both regulatory regimes to a significant extent. However, the CFTCs guidance on cross-border swaps regulation, as well as the margin requirements recently adopted by the U.S. bank regulatory agencies and the CFTC, may allow us to comply with some, but not all, U.S. regulatory requirements on a substituted basis by complying with EMIR and MiFID. The new requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act may adversely affect our derivatives business and make us less
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competitive, especially as compared to competitors not subject to such regulation. Additionally, under the Dodd-Frank Act, security-based swaps are subject to a standalone regulatory regime under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC is finalizing rules for its security-based swap regime that are expected to be parallel to, but not identical to, the CFTCs regulation of swaps. This will impose further regulation of our derivatives business.
In addition, CRD 4 provides for executive compensation reforms including caps on bonuses that may be awarded to material risk takers and other employees as defined in CRD 4, the German Banking Act and other applicable rules and regulations such as the Remuneration Regulation for Institutions (Institutsvergütungsverordnung). The compensation reforms of CRD 4, including any guidelines issued by the EBA to further implement them, could put us at a disadvantage to our competitors in attracting and retaining talented employees, especially compared to those outside the European Union that are not subject to these caps and other constraints.
Following the financial crisis, bank levies have been introduced in some countries including, among others, Germany and the United Kingdom. We accrued 342 million for bank levies in 2014, 653 million in 2015 and 771 million in 2016. Also, we are required to contribute substantially to the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) under the SRM (which is intended to reach a target level of 1 % of insured deposits of all banks in member states participating in the SRM by the end of 2023) and the statutory deposit guarantee and investor compensation schemes under the recast European Union directive on deposit guarantee schemes (DGS Directive) and the European Union directive on investor compensation schemes. The DGS Directive defines a 0.8 % target level of prefunding by 2024 (similar to resolution funds), which has significantly increased the costs of the statutory deposit protection scheme. In addition, in this context, on November 24, 2015, the European Commission proposed a regulation to establish a European Deposit Insurance Scheme, or EDIS for bank deposits of all credit institutions that are members of any of the current national statutory deposit guarantee schemes of member states participating in the banking union. While the total impact of these future levies cannot currently be quantified, they may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations in future periods.
Separately, on January 22, 2013, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision authorizing eleven EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) to proceed with the introduction of a financial transaction tax under the European Unions enhanced cooperation procedure. The European Commission on February 14, 2013 adopted a draft directive for the implementation of the financial transaction tax. Since then, the introduction of the financial transaction tax is subject to ongoing controversial discussions at the European Union level with the result that the final scope, design and entry into force of the financial transaction tax remain uncertain. Estonia is no longer participating. Depending on the final details, the proposed financial transaction tax could result in compliance costs as well as market consequences and have a materially adverse effect on our profits and business. Different forms of national financial transaction taxes have already been implemented in a number of European jurisdictions, including France and Italy.
Adverse market conditions, asset price deteriorations, volatility and cautious investor sentiment have affected and may in the future materially and adversely affect our revenues and profits, particularly in our investment banking, brokerage and other commission- and fee-based businesses. As a result, we have in the past incurred and may in the future incur significant losses from our trading and investment activities.
As a global investment bank, we have significant exposure to the financial markets and are more at risk from adverse developments in the financial markets than are institutions engaged predominantly in traditional banking activities. Sustained market declines have in the past caused and can in the future cause our revenues to decline, and, if we are unable to reduce our expenses at the same pace, can cause our profitability to erode or cause us to show material losses. Volatility can also adversely affect us, by causing the value of financial assets we hold to decline or the expense of hedging our risks to rise. Reduced customer activity can also lead to lower revenues in our flow business.
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Specifically, our investment banking revenues, in the form of financial advisory and underwriting fees, directly relate to the number and size of the transactions in which we participate and are susceptible to adverse effects from sustained market downturns. These fees and other income are generally linked to the value of the underlying transactions and therefore can decline with asset values. In addition, periods of market decline and uncertainty tend to dampen client appetite for market and credit risk, a critical driver of transaction volumes and investment banking revenues, especially transactions with higher margins. In recent and other times in the past, decreased client appetite for risk has led to lower levels of activity and lower levels of profitability in our Corporate & Investment Banking corporate division. Our revenues and profitability could sustain material adverse effects from a significant reduction in the number or size of debt and equity offerings and merger and acquisition transactions.
Market downturns also have led and may in the future lead to declines in the volume of transactions that we execute for our clients and, therefore, to declines in our noninterest income. In addition, because the fees that we charge for managing our clients portfolios are in many cases based on the value or performance of those portfolios, a market downturn that reduces the value of our clients portfolios or increases the amount of withdrawals reduces the revenues we receive from our asset management and private banking businesses. Even in the absence of a market downturn, below-market or negative performance by our investment funds may result in increased withdrawals and reduced inflows, which would reduce the revenue we receive from our asset management business. While our clients would be responsible for losses we incur in taking positions for their accounts, we may be exposed to additional credit risk as a result of their need to cover the losses where we do not hold adequate collateral or cannot realize it. Our business may also suffer if our clients lose money and we lose the confidence of clients in our products and services.
In addition, the revenues and profits we derive from many of our trading and investment positions and our transactions in connection with them can be directly and negatively impacted by market prices, which have been volatile in recent years. In each of the product and business lines in which we enter into these trading and investment positions, part of our business entails making assessments about the financial markets and trends in them. When we own assets, market price declines can expose us to losses. Many of the more sophisticated transactions of our Global Markets corporate division are designed to profit from price movements and differences among prices. If prices move in a way we have not anticipated, we may experience losses. Also, when markets are volatile, the assessments we have made may prove to lead to lower revenues or profits, or may lead to losses, on the related transactions and positions. In addition, we commit capital and take market risk to facilitate certain capital markets transactions; doing so can result in losses as well as income volatility. Such losses may especially occur on assets we hold for which there are not very liquid markets initially. Assets that are not traded on stock exchanges or other public trading markets, such as derivatives contracts between banks, may have values that we calculate using models other than publicly-quoted prices. Monitoring the deterioration of prices of assets like these is difficult and could lead to losses we did not anticipate. We can also be adversely affected if general perceptions of risk cause uncertain investors to remain on the sidelines of the market, curtailing their activity and in turn reducing the levels of activity in those of our businesses dependent on transaction flow.
We announced the next phase of our strategy in April 2015, gave further details on it in October 2015 and announced an update in March 2017. If we are unable to implement our strategic plans successfully, we may be unable to achieve our financial objectives, or we may incur losses or low profitability or erosions of our capital base, and our financial condition, results of operations and share price may be materially and adversely affected.
We announced the next phase of our strategy in April 2015, gave further details on it in October 2015 and announced an update in March 2017. Our plans included becoming simpler and more efficient by focusing on the markets, products and clients where we are better positioned to succeed, becoming less risky by modernizing our technology and by withdrawing from higher-risk client relationships, becoming better capitalized and running the Bank in a more disciplined way. In October 2015 we announced specific execution measures for each business division and updated our financial targets to highlight the financial objectives of our strategy. In March 2017, we announced an update that includes a number of new steps to further strengthen the Bank and place it in a better position to pursue growth opportunities, including a 8 billion capital raise, the reorganization of our business into three distinct units, the combination of Postbanks and PCBs German business, the establishment of a cost reduction plan as described below, and an update to the Groups targets. The details of our strategy are set forth in Item 4: Information on the Company Business Overview Our Business Strategy.
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Our strategys goals are subject to various internal and external factors including market, regulatory, economic and political uncertainties, and to limitations relating to our operating model. These could negatively impact or prevent the implementation of our strategic goals or the realization of their anticipated benefits. Economic uncertainties such as the recurrence of extreme turbulence in the markets; weakness in global, regional and national economic conditions; the continuation of the low interest rate environment; increased competition for business; and political instability, especially in Europe, may impact our ability to achieve our strategic goals. Regulatory changes could also adversely impact our ability to achieve our strategic aims. In particular, regulators could demand changes to our business model or organization that could reduce our profitability, or we may be forced to make changes that reduce our profitability in an effort to remain compliant with law and regulation. We are also involved in numerous litigation, arbitration and regulatory proceedings and investigations in Germany and in a number of jurisdictions outside of Germany, especially in the U.S. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties. We expect the litigation environment to continue to be challenging. If litigation and regulatory matters continue to occur at the same rate and magnitude as in recent years or if we are subject to sustained market speculation about our potential settlement of such matters, we may not be able to achieve our strategic aspirations.
In particular, macroeconomic risks and the risks relating to regulatory changes and our legal proceedings may impact our ability to meet our financial and capital targets. As financial targets, we are aiming to achieve a post-tax return on tangible equity of approximately 10 %, assuming a normalized operating environment, in addition to the cost-related targets and net revenues expectations referred to below. Our capital targets comprise a fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio comfortably above 13.0 %, and a leverage ratio of 4.5 % over time. Furthermore, we intend to target a competitive dividend payout ratio for the financial year 2018 and thereafter. Our strategy is based on an ambitious financial plan with, we believe, some buffer for downside scenarios and contingencies. However, the base case scenario for our financial and capital plan includes revenue growth estimates which are dependent on positive macroeconomic developments. Stagnation or a downturn in the macroeconomic environment could significantly impact our ability to generate the revenue growth necessary to achieve these strategic financial and capital targets. Furthermore, even if we are able to grow our revenues in accordance with our strategic plans, the materialization of any of the regulatory changes or the costs for us in terms of the outcomes or necessary changes to our businesses of the litigation and regulatory matters mentioned above, including market speculation about our potential settlement of them, or any other unforeseen risk, could adversely impact our net income and thereby cause us to fall short of our strategic financial and capital targets.
Our capital targets are further dependent on our ability to reduce the size of our balance sheet in accordance with our strategy. We plan disposals of a number of smaller businesses with identified risk-weighted assets (RWAs) of approximately 10 billion and leverage exposure of approximately 30 billion, the majority of which are expected to take place over the next 18 months. We also plan for CIB to separately manage identified legacy asset portfolios with approximately 20 billion of RWA and approximately 60 billion leverage exposure, with a target to reduce them to approximately 12 billion of RWA and approximately 30 billion leverage exposure, respectively, by 2020. Difficult market conditions or regulatory uncertainties may prevent us from being able to dispose of assets at all, or at prices we would consider to be reasonable, thereby causing us either to sell these assets for losses (or losses that are higher than expected) or hold these assets for a longer period of time than desired or planned. If we cannot reduce our RWAs according to plan, we may not be able to achieve the capital targets set out under our strategy.
Our strategys financial plan also includes substantial cost reduction targets, which we plan to achieve through efficiency gains from implementation of various initiatives. We aim to reduce our adjusted costs to approximately 22 billion by 2018 and approximately 21 billion by 2021, including the impact of retaining Postbanks adjusted costs ( 2.7 billion in 2016). (We define adjusted costs as noninterest expenses excluding impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, litigation and restructuring and severance. In 2016 and prior years, we also reported adjusted costs, which in addition excluded policyholder benefits and claims arising from Abbey Life Assurance, which was sold at the end of 2016.) In respect of our reorganized Corporate & Investment Bank division, we expect efficiencies from the combination of the current CIB with GM to result in a reduction of adjusted costs by approximately 0.7 billion by 2018. In respect of our reorganized Private & Commercial Bank division, we estimate the planned restructuring to produce approximately 0.9 billion of cost savings by 2022, and are targeting a cost-income ratio of below 65 % following the completion of its restructuring. Our planned exit from certain businesses, offboarding of certain clients and disposals of
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certain assets may entail higher costs or take more time than anticipated and thereby impede us from achieving the cost reductions we have targeted as scheduled or at all. Furthermore, additional costs could arise from any number of anticipated or unanticipated developments, such as costs relating to compliance with additional regulatory requirements and increased regulatory charges. In order to achieve our strategic goals, we expect to incur restructuring and severance costs of approximately 2 billion over the period 2017 to 2021, approximately 70 % of which is expected to be incurred within the next two years. In respect of our reorganized Private & Commercial Bank division, we estimate that restructuring and severance costs for the planned restructuring measures will be approximately 1.0 billion by 2022. Our estimated restructuring and severance charges could ultimately run higher than anticipated, preventing us from achieving our adjusted costs target and the related divisional targets.
In the near term, in relation to our reorganized business divisions Corporate & Investment Bank, Private & Commercial Bank and Deutsche Asset Management, we have communicated our expectations for 2017 in respect of the directional development of our net revenues in the main businesses within each of those divisions.
Our ability to implement our strategy and meet its stated targets, both in the near term and thereafter, is based on a number of additional key assumptions relating to our business and operating model:
| We assume that we will be able to overcome significant challenges arising from our business model. We continue to rely on our trading and markets businesses as a significant source of profit. However, these businesses, in particular our fixed income securities franchise, have continued to face an extremely challenging environment, caused by uncertainty about the duration of the low interest rate environment, central bank intervention in markets and the gradual cessation thereof and overall sluggish economic growth. We are substantially dependent on the performance of these businesses, and this dependency exceeds that of many of our competitors. Many of our businesses dependent on client flow are increasingly challenged in uncertain times. In addition, some of our businesses may be resistant to change, posing risks to the implementation of changes to our business model. Should we be unable to implement this new business model successfully, or should the new business model fail to be profitable, we may not be able to achieve some or all of our strategic goals. |
| We assume a continuation of the positive inflows and the return of many clients that we have seen in the first quarter of 2017 following the significant asset outflows and loss of clients in the third quarter of 2016 resulting from negative market perceptions concerning Deutsche Bank around our negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice. Nevertheless, overall levels remain below those seen before impact of the negative market perceptions, and a renewed negative market focus on Deutsche Bank could end or reverse these positive inflows. |
| We assume that we will be able to continue to attract and retain highly qualified staff. Given the operating environment in 2016, the Management Board decided to cancel the discretionary bonus element of the compensation for the Banks senior employees. Across all our businesses, we need to attract and retain highly qualified staff. The decision to cancel the discretionary bonus element for 2016 may adversely affect our ability to succeed in attracting or retaining highly qualified employees. If our efforts to attract and/or retain employees should fail, this may have a material adverse effect on the our ability to implement our strategy. |
| We assume that we will be able to significantly upgrade and reduce the complexity of our infrastructure. We currently operate a highly complex infrastructure, which can compromise the quality of the overall control environment. Establishing a more efficient bank with a strong control environment depends on successfully streamlining and simplifying the IT landscape as well as cultural change. Furthermore, capital and execution plans require robust monitoring and tracking that is dependent on accurate, timely and relevant data. We have undertaken initiatives designed to address existing challenges in our IT and data architecture as well as in our data aggregation capabilities. Potential delays and challenges to implementing these initiatives would impact our ability to achieve efficiency improvements and enhance the control environment, thereby affecting our ability to implement our strategy successfully. |
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| We assume that we will be able to improve our internal control environment. A robust and effective internal control environment is necessary to ensure that we conduct our business in compliance with the laws and regulations applicable to us. We are undertaking several major initiatives to enhance the efficacy of the transaction processing environment, strengthen our controls and manage non-financial risks, in particular as a response to the circumstances that have resulted in many of the litigations and regulatory and enforcement investigations and proceedings to which the Bank has recently been subject. However, we may be unable to complete these initiatives as quickly as we intend or as our regulators demand, and our efforts may be insufficient to prevent all future deficiencies in our control environment or to result in fewer litigations or regulatory and enforcement investigations and proceedings in the future. Furthermore, implementation of enhanced controls may result in higher than expected costs of regulatory compliance that could offset efficiency gains. Any of these factors could affect our ability to implement our strategy in a timely manner or at all. |
| We assume that the buffers we have included in our financial targets will be sufficient to reflect a plausible range of downside scenarios and that absent more substantial dislocations we will be able to achieve the targets. However, the buffers that we have provided for in order to achieve these goals may prove to be insufficient in a downside scenario. Should this risk materialize as a result of the macroeconomic, regulatory, litigation or other factors discussed above, we may fail to meet our strategic targets. |
| Our plan for 2017 is based on assumed foreign exchange rates of EUR/USD 1.01 and EUR/GBP 0.88. |
If we fail to implement our strategic initiatives in whole or in part or should the initiatives that are implemented fail to produce the anticipated benefits, or should the costs we incur to implement our initiatives exceed the amounts anticipated, or should we fail to achieve the publicly communicated targets we have set for implementation of these initiatives, we may fail to achieve our financial objectives, or incur losses or low profitability or erosions of our capital base, and our financial condition, results of operations and share price may be materially and adversely affected.
As part of our March 2017 updates to our strategy, we announced our intention to reconfigure our Global Markets, Corporate Finance and Transaction Banking businesses into a single, corporate client-led Corporate & Investment Banking division to position ourselves for growth through increased cross-selling opportunities for Deutsche Banks higher return corporate clients. Clients may choose not to expand their businesses or portfolios with us, thereby negatively influencing our ability to capitalize on these opportunities.
As part of our strategic initiatives announced in March 2017, we intend to reconfigure our Global Markets, Corporate Finance and Transaction Banking businesses into a single, corporate client-led Corporate & Investment Banking division. The combination is intended to promote a more seamless and aligned offering of products to clients, meaningfully enhance cross selling opportunities, ensure better client rationalization with resources being focused on higher return relationships, and achieve greater cost and asset efficiencies to drive improved returns. The franchise is intended to be primarily a corporate-client focused business, while retaining a focused institutional client business. Our corporate clients product needs, business plans and general willingness to engage into a deeper banking relationship with us will ultimately determine whether we are successful in capturing this anticipated spending. Should we be unable to deliver on the cross-selling efforts due to either lack of client demand, product availability or quality or delivery, there is a risk that this could negatively influence our ability to capitalize on these opportunities. The aforementioned macroeconomic, geo-political and regulatory risks also pose a challenge to the operating models of our Corporate & Investment Bank clients, and our ability to capture the incremental opportunity. In addition, in connection with the formation of the new Corporate & Investment Bank division, Deutsche Bank will be required by the relevant accounting rules to allocate the businesses being reconfigured into one or more cash generating units (CGUs) within the new division. Depending on the outcome of this accounting determination, some or all of the goodwill in the existing Corporate & Investment Banking CGU, amounting to 532 million as of December 31, 2016, may be offset by the shortfall in recoverable amount of the current Global Markets CGU such that this goodwill would be written off on consummation of the reconfiguration. Any such writedown would have an equivalent adverse effect on the statement of income of the Group for the period in which it occurs.
As part of our March 2017 updates to our strategy, we announced our intention to retain and combine Deutsche Postbank AG (together with its subsidiaries, Postbank) with our existing retail and commercial operations, after earlier having announced our intention to dispose of Postbank. We may face difficulties integrating Postbank into the Group following the completion of operational separability from the Group. Consequently, the cost savings and other benefits we expect to realize may only come at a higher cost than anticipated, or may not be realized at all.
As part of our strategy, we initially announced our intention to dispose of Postbank. However, we have since decided to retain Postbank and combine it with our existing German retail and commercial operations over the next five years. This shift from the prior strategy reflects a number of evolving factors, including our belief that growth in small and mid-sized German corporate clients and private banking clients will continue, changes in the expected regulatory requirements and market expectations for leverage ratios of European banks, the positive impact on the business model of
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retaining a large and stable business with a substantial deposit base, our revised view on the possible degree of integration of Postbank and the resulting scale and incremental synergies, and future growth opportunities we have identified, reflecting a potential improvement in the macroeconomic outlook and the changing dynamics in private and commercial banking, the growing likelihood of eventual industry consolidation in German retail banking and the continued positive opportunities presented by digitization. We expect that the integration of Postbank will create Germanys largest private and commercial bank. This integration is intended to achieve cost efficiencies by more readily permitting rationalization of central functions, improved efficiency across technology platforms and infrastructure and more efficient investment in areas including digitization, distribution channels and regulatory change.
In furtherance of the earlier plan to deconsolidate Postbank, we engaged in a project to separate Postbank operationally from the Deutsche Bank Group. This process was completed at the end of the second quarter of 2016. We estimate that the total cost of the planned restructuring measures to integrate Postbank into the Group will be 1.9 billion, with restructuring and severance costs estimated to be approximately 1.0 billion by 2022 and the remainder related to IT and other costs, and we are targeting benefits of 0.9 billion in annual cost savings by 2022. By the end of 2018 we expect to finalize the existing transformation programs, which we anticipate will result in cost reductions of 0.4 billion. Unforeseen difficulties may emerge in connection with the integration efforts, including potential difficulties due to differing IT systems, difficulties in integrating personnel, the commitment of management resources in connection with the integration process and the potential loss of key personnel. The benefits, cost and timeframe of the integration could be adversely affected by any of these factors, as well as a variety of factors beyond our and Postbanks control, such as negative market developments. Should any of these risks materialize, the cost savings and other benefits we expect to realize from the integration may only come at a higher cost than anticipated, or may not be realized within the period we anticipate or to the extent we plan, or at all.
As part of our March 2017 updates to our strategy, we announced our intention to create an operationally segregated Asset Management division through a partial initial public offer (IPO). If economic or market conditions, or the financial position, results of operations and business prospects of Deutsche AM, are unfavorable, or if any required regulatory approvals are not obtained or would be available only on disadvantageous terms, we may not be able to sell a stake in Deutsche AM at a favorable price or timing, or at all. Additionally, we may not be able to capitalize on the expected benefits that we believe an operationally segregated Deutsche AM can offer.
One of the three incremental strategic initiatives we announced in March 2017 is our intention to create a segregated Asset Management business and offer a portion of it in an initial public offer (IPO). We believe that the growth potential of Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) has been constrained by its full ownership by the Bank, with reputational issues and wider market concerns around Deutsche Banks capital strength in late 2016 affecting Deutsche AM. Additionally, resourcing limitations, as Deutsche Bank has pursued its restructuring efforts, further constrained Deutsche AM. We therefore believe that Deutsche AM remains undervalued in the current corporate structure. Accordingly, we intend to sell a minority stake in Deutsche AM and provide the division with more flexibility to enhance its ability to pursue growth opportunities globally and gain market share. We intend to complete the IPO over the next 24 months, subject to market conditions.
However, we may have difficulties selling a stake in Deutsche AM at a favorable price or timing, or at all. Our ability to sell a stake in Deutsche AM will, among other things, depend on economic, regulatory and market conditions, particularly those relevant to the asset management business in Germany. Our ability to sell a stake in Deutsche AM will also depend on the financial position, results of operations and business prospects of Deutsche AM. Furthermore, the steps necessary to implement an IPO, even of a minority stake, may require the approval of relevant regulators in the European Union, the United States and elsewhere. If economic, regulatory or market conditions, or the financial position, results of operations and business prospects of Deutsche AM, are unfavorable, or if regulatory approvals are not obtained or would be available only on disadvantageous terms, we may not be able to sell a stake in Deutsche AM at a favorable price or timing, or at all.
Additionally, we may not be able to capitalize upon the expected benefits that we believe a more operationally segregated Deutsche AM has to offer. Furthermore, an IPO of Deutsche AM may not entirely mitigate the market concerns about Deutsche Bank that impacted Deutsche AMs business in 2016.
33 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
We may have difficulties selling companies, businesses or assets at favorable prices or at all and may experience material losses from these assets and other investments irrespective of market developments.
As part of our strategy, we are seeking to continue to reduce our assets, including in particular those of our Global Markets corporate division (which will become part of the new CIB corporate division), which include assets transferred to such division at the beginning of 2017 upon the closing of our Non-Core Operations Unit. We are planning to dispose of businesses with identified risk-weighted assets of approximately 10 billion and leverage exposure of approximately 30 billion, the majority of which we plan to complete over the next 18 months. We also plan for CIB to separately manage identified legacy asset portfolios with approximately 20 billion of RWA and approximately 60 billion leverage exposure, with a target to reduce them to approximately 12 billion of RWA and approximately 30 billion leverage exposure, respectively, by 2020. We also have other assets that are not part of our core business, and we may seek to sell them or otherwise reduce the amount and the risk of our exposure to them.
These reductions are part of our strategy to simplify and focus our business and to meet or exceed the new capital and leverage requirements by reducing risk-weighted assets and leverage exposures and thereby improving our capital and leverage ratios, as well as to help us meet our return on tangible equity target. This strategy may prove difficult in the current and future market environment as many of our competitors are also seeking to dispose of assets to improve their capital and leverage ratios and returns on equity. We have already sold a substantial portion of our non-core assets, and our remaining non-core assets may be particularly difficult for us to sell as quickly as we have expected at prices we deem acceptable. Also, we are often a passive investor in such investments and as such we are reliant on the actions of third parties. Where we sell companies or businesses, we may remain exposed to certain of their losses or risks under the terms of the sale contracts, and the process of separating and selling such companies or businesses may give rise to operating risks or other losses. Unfavorable business or market conditions may make it difficult for us to sell companies, businesses or assets at favorable prices, or may preclude a sale altogether.
If we cannot reduce our assets according to plan, we may not be able to achieve the capital targets set out under our strategy.
A robust and effective internal control environment is necessary to ensure that we conduct our business in compliance with the laws and regulations applicable to us. We have identified the need to strengthen our internal control environment and have embarked on initiatives to accomplish this. If these initiatives are not successful or are delayed, our reputation, regulatory position and financial condition may be materially adversely affected, and our ability to achieve our strategic ambitions may be impaired.
Our businesses are highly dependent on our ability to maintain a robust and effective internal control environment. This is needed for the Bank to process and monitor, on a daily basis, a wide variety of transactions many of which are highly complex and occur at high speeds, volumes and frequencies, across numerous and diverse markets and currencies. However, the infrastructure (comprising people, policies and procedures, controls testing and IT systems) that underlies our internal control environment sometimes is not sufficiently comprehensive or well integrated across the Bank. In particular, the infrastructure requires, especially in the case of our IT infrastructure, the use of numerous platforms that are fragmented across the Bank. Therefore our business processes often require manual procedures and actions that make information available for management more prone to human error than would be the case with more seamlessly integrated systems. These processes span processing and settling transactions, valuation of assets, identifying risks, escalating reviews and mitigation and remediating actions, as well as regulatory reporting and other data processing and compliance activities. As a result, it is often difficult and labor intensive for us to obtain information of a consistently high quality and on a timely basis to manage our risk levels and to comply with regulatory reporting and other compliance requirements. Furthermore, it takes intensive efforts to identify, when possible, inappropriate behavior by our staff and attempts by third parties to misuse our services as a conduit for prohibited activities, including those relating to anti-financial crime laws and regulation.
Deutsche Bank | 34 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Against this backdrop, our regulators, our Management Board and our Group Audit function have increasingly and more intensively focused on our internal controls through numerous formal reviews and audits of its operations. These reviews and audits have identified various areas for improvement relating to certain elements of our control environment. These include the infrastructure relating to transaction capturing and recognition, classification of assets, asset valuation frameworks and data and process consistency. They also include regulatory reporting, anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer and other internal processes that are aimed at preventing use of our products and services for the purpose of committing or concealing financial crime. As one example, our recent settlement with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) relating to trading activities involving our Russian operations stemmed in part from the FCAs review of the AML control functions in our investment bank.
In order to improve in the areas discussed above, we are undertaking several major initiatives to enhance the efficacy of the transaction processing environment, strengthen our controls and manage non-financial risks. We believe that these initiatives will better enable us to avoid the circumstances that have resulted in many of the litigations and regulatory and enforcement investigations and proceedings to which we have recently been subject. In particular, we are making efforts to reduce the complexity of our business and to integrate and automate processes and business line controls. We have also exited certain businesses, for example in Russia, selectively off-boarded a number of clients, worked to strengthen our compliance culture and control functions and increased the size of our Group Audit function. However, we may be unable to complete these initiatives as quickly as we intend or as our regulators demand, and our efforts may be insufficient to prevent all future deficiencies in our control environment or to result in fewer litigations or regulatory and enforcement investigations and proceedings in the future. If we are unable to significantly improve our control environment in a timely manner, some of our regulators may require us to reduce our exposure to certain kinds of products or businesses, counterparties or regions, which could, depending on the extent of such requirement, significantly challenge our ability to operate profitably under our current business model.
Regulators can also impose capital surcharges, requiring capital buffers in addition to those directly required under the regulatory capital rules applicable to us, to reflect the additional risks posed by deficiencies in our control environment. In extreme cases, regulators can suspend our permission to operate in the businesses and regions within their jurisdictions. Furthermore, implementation of enhanced controls may result in higher than expected costs of regulatory compliance that could offset or exceed efficiency gains. Any of these factors could affect our ability to implement our strategy in a timely manner or at all.
We operate in a highly and increasingly regulated and litigious environment, potentially exposing us to liability and other costs, the amounts of which may be substantial and difficult to estimate, as well as to legal and regulatory sanctions and reputational harm.
The financial services industry is among the most highly regulated industries. Our operations throughout the world are regulated and supervised by the central banks and regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate. In recent years, regulation and supervision in a number of areas has increased, and regulators, law enforcement authorities, governmental bodies and others have sought to subject financial services providers to increasing oversight and scrutiny, which in turn has led to additional regulatory investigations or enforcement actions. This trend has accelerated markedly as a result of the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. There has been a steep escalation in the severity of the terms which regulators and law enforcement authorities have required to settle legal and regulatory proceedings against financial institutions, with recent settlements including unprecedented monetary penalties as well as criminal sanctions. As a result, we may continue to be subject to increasing levels of liability and regulatory sanctions, and may be required to make greater expenditures and devote additional resources to addressing these liabilities and sanctions. Regulatory sanctions may include status changes to local licenses or orders to discontinue certain business practices.
We and our subsidiaries are involved in various litigation proceedings, including civil class action lawsuits, arbitration proceedings and other disputes with third parties, as well as regulatory proceedings and investigations by both civil and criminal authorities in jurisdictions around the world. We expect that the costs to us arising from the resolution of litigation, enforcement and similar matters pending against us to continue to be significant in the near to medium term and to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Litigation and regulatory matters are subject to many uncertainties, and the outcome of individual matters is not predictable with assurance. We may settle litigation or regulatory proceedings prior to a final judgment or determination of liability. We may do so for a number of reasons, including to avoid the cost, management efforts or negative business, regulatory or reputational consequences of continuing to contest liability, even when we believe we have valid defenses to liability. We may also do so when the potential consequences of failing to prevail would be disproportionate to the costs of settlement. Furthermore, we may, for similar reasons, reimburse counterparties for their losses even in situations where we do not believe that we
35 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
are legally compelled to do so. The financial impact of legal risks might be considerable but may be difficult or impossible to estimate and to quantify, so that amounts eventually paid may exceed the amount of provisions made or contingent liabilities assessed for such risks.
We are under continuous examination by tax authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws are increasingly complex. In the current political and regulatory environment, tax administrations and courts interpretation of tax laws and regulations and their application are evolving, and scrutiny by tax authorities has become increasingly intense. Wide ranging changes in the principles of international taxation emanating from the OECDs Base Erosion and Profit Shifting agenda are generating significant uncertainties for us and our subsidiaries and may result in an increase in instances of bilateral tax disputes going forward, as member states may take different approaches in transposing these requirements into national law. In addition, tax administrations have focused on the eligibility of taxpayers for relief from or reduced withholding taxes on dividends in connection with certain cross-border lending or derivative transactions as well as reduced withholding taxes on other payments (with Germany recently reforming the German Investment Tax Act (Investmentsteuergesetz) in this area), thus causing uncertainties in the application of existing withholding tax principles. As a result, the cost to us arising from the conclusion and resolution of routine tax examinations, tax litigation and other forms of tax proceedings or tax disputes, as well as from rapidly changing and increasingly complex and uncertain tax laws and principles, may increase and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation.
Actions currently pending against us or our current or former employees may not only result in judgments, settlements, fines or penalties, but may also cause substantial reputational harm to us. The risk of damage to our reputation arising from such proceedings is also difficult or impossible to quantify.
Regulators have increasingly sought admissions of wrongdoing in connection with settlement of matters brought by them. This could lead to increased exposure in subsequent civil litigation or in consequences under so-called bad actor laws, in which persons or entities determined to have committed offenses under some laws can be subject to limitations on business activities under other laws, as well as adverse reputational consequences. In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) conditions the granting of cooperation credit in civil and criminal investigations of corporate wrongdoing on the company involved having provided to investigators all relevant facts relating to the individuals responsible for the alleged misconduct. This policy may result in increased fines and penalties if the DOJ determines that we have not provided sufficient information about applicable individuals in connection with an investigation. Other governmental authorities could adopt similar policies.
In addition, the financial impact of legal risks arising out of matters similar to some of those we face have been very large for a number of participants in the financial services industry, with fines and settlement payments greatly exceeding what market participants may have expected and, as noted above, escalating steeply over the last few years to unprecedented levels. The experience of others, including settlement terms, in similar cases is among the factors we take into consideration in determining the level of provisions we maintain in respect of these legal risks. Recent developments in cases involving other financial institutions have led to greater uncertainty as to the predictability of outcomes and could lead us to add to our provisions. Moreover, the costs of our investigations and defenses relating to these matters are themselves substantial. Further uncertainty may arise as a result of a lack of coordination among regulators from different jurisdictions or among regulators with varying competencies in a single jurisdiction, which may make it difficult for us to reach concurrent settlements with each regulator. Should we be subject to financial impacts arising out of litigation and regulatory matters to which we are subject in excess of those we have calculated in accordance with our expectations and the relevant accounting rules and contrary to our publicly communicated expectation that 2015 and 2016 were peak years for the financial impact of litigation and regulatory matters, our provisions in respect of such risks may prove to be materially insufficient to cover these impacts. This could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or reputation as well as on our ability to maintain capital, leverage and liquidity ratios at levels expected by market participants and our regulators. In such an event, we could find it necessary to reduce our risk-weighted assets (including on terms disadvantageous to us) or substantially cut costs to improve these ratios, in an amount corresponding to the adverse effects of the provisioning shortfall.
Deutsche Bank | 36 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Regulatory and law enforcement agencies globally are currently investigating us in connection with alleged misconduct relating to manipulation of foreign exchange rates. The extent of our financial exposure to these matters could be material, and our reputation may suffer material harm as a result.
We have received requests for information from certain regulatory and law enforcement agencies globally who are investigating trading, and various other aspects, of the foreign exchange market. We are cooperating with these investigations. The investigations underway have the potential to result in the imposition of significant financial penalties and other consequences for us. Relatedly, we have conducted our own internal global review of foreign exchange trading and other aspects of our foreign exchange business.
The CFTC Division of Enforcement has issued a letter notifying us that the CFTC has closed its foreign exchange investigation of us, and the DOJ, Criminal Division, Fraud Section, has issued a letter notifying Deutsche Bank that the DOJ has closed its criminal inquiry concerning possible violations of federal criminal law in connection with the foreign exchange markets. Both letters noted that the respective authorities may reopen their investigations in the future. Further, such letters have no binding impact on other regulatory and law enforcement agency investigations regarding our foreign exchange trading and practices, which remain pending. On December 7, 2016, it was announced that we have reached an agreement with CADE, the Brazilian antitrust enforcement agency, to settle an investigation into conduct in the foreign exchange market by a former Brazil-based Deutsche Bank trader. This has had the effect of bringing to a close CADEs administrative process as far as it relates to us. Investigations conducted by certain other regulatory and law enforcement agencies are ongoing and we are cooperating with these investigations.
We have also been named as a defendant in multiple putative class actions brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging antitrust and U.S. Commodity Exchange Act claims relating to the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates. There are now four actions pending. The first pending action is a consolidated action brought on behalf of putative classes of over-the-counter traders and central-exchange traders and alleges illegal agreements to restrain competition with respect to and to manipulate both benchmark rates and spot rates, particularly the spreads quoted on those spot rates; the complaint further alleges that those supposed conspiracies, in turn, resulted in artificial prices on centralized exchanges for foreign exchange futures and options. Our motion to dismiss the consolidated action was granted in part and denied in part on September 20, 2016. A second action tracks the allegations in the consolidated action and asserts that such purported conduct gave rise to, and resulted in a breach of, defendants fiduciary duties under the U.S. Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The third putative class action alleges that we rejected FX orders placed over electronic trading platforms through the application of a function referred to as Last Look and that these orders were later filled at prices less favorable to putative class members. Plaintiff has asserted claims for breach of contract, quasi-contractual claims, and claims under New York statutory law. The fourth putative class action tracks the allegations in the consolidated action and asserts that such purported conduct injured indirect purchasers of FX instruments. These claims are brought pursuant to the Sherman Act, New Yorks Donnelly Act, Californias Cartwright Act and Californias Unfair Competition Law.
On August 24, 2016, the Court granted defendants motion to dismiss the ERISA action. Plaintiffs in that action filed an appellate brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on January 9, 2017. On February 14, 2017, the court granted in part and denied in part our motion to dismiss the Last Look action. We moved to dismiss the indirect purchasers action on January 24, 2017. Discovery has commenced in the consolidated and Last Look actions. Discovery has not yet commenced in the ERISA and indirect purchasers actions.
We have also been named as a defendant in two Canadian class proceedings brought in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Filed on September 10, 2015, these class actions assert factual allegations similar to those made in the consolidated action in the United States and seek damages pursuant to the Canadian Competition Act as well as other causes of action.
37 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Many of these matters are not advanced enough to estimate their outcome or any fines that may be levied by governmental bodies or damages that may be incurred from private litigation. A number of other financial institutions are also currently being investigated. Any settlements by these institutions may adversely affect the outcomes for other financial institutions, such as us, in similar actions, especially as large settlements may be used as the basis or template for other settlements. As a result, these matters may expose us to substantial monetary damages and defense costs in addition to criminal and civil penalties, and they could accordingly have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or reputation.
We are currently the subject of industry-wide investigations by regulatory and law enforcement agencies relating to interbank offered rates, as well as civil actions. Due to a number of uncertainties, including those related to the high profile of the matters and other banks settlement negotiations, the eventual outcome of these matters is unpredictable, and may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We have received requests for information from various regulatory and law enforcement agencies, including various U.S. states attorneys general, in connection with industry-wide investigations concerning the setting of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR), Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate (TIBOR) and other interbank offered rates. We are cooperating with these investigations. The investigations underway have the potential to result in the imposition of significant financial penalties and other consequences for the Bank.
As previously reported, we reached a settlement with the European Commission on December 4, 2013 as part of a collective settlement to resolve the European Commissions investigations in relation to anticompetitive conduct in the trading of Euro interest rate derivatives and Yen interest rate derivatives. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, we agreed to pay 725 million in total.
Also as previously reported, on April 23, 2015, we entered into separate settlements with the DOJ, the CFTC, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) to resolve investigations into misconduct concerning the setting of LIBOR, EURIBOR, and TIBOR. Under the terms of these agreements, we agreed to pay penalties of U.S.$ 2.175 billion to the DOJ, CFTC and DFS and GBP 226.8 million to the FCA. These fines have been paid in full, save for U.S.$150 million that is payable to the DOJ, subject to court approval (currently scheduled for March 28, 2017), following the sentencing of DB Group Services (UK) Ltd. (an indirectly-held, wholly-owned subsidiary of ours) in connection with its guilty plea to one count of wire fraud. As part of the resolution with the DOJ, we entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with a three year term pursuant to which we agreed (among other things) to the filing of an Information in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut charging us with one count of wire fraud and one count of price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act.
Factual admissions we have made in connection with these settlements could make it difficult for us to defend against pending and future claims.
As reported above, we are subject to an inquiry by a working group of U.S. state attorneys general in relation to the setting of LIBOR, EURIBOR, and TIBOR. We continue to cooperate with the U.S. state attorneys generals inquiry. Other investigations of us concerning the setting of various interbank offered rates remain ongoing, and we remain exposed to further action.
In addition, we are party to 47 civil actions concerning alleged manipulation relating to the setting of various Interbank Offered Rates. Most of the civil actions, including putative class actions, are pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), against us and numerous other defendants. All but six of the civil actions were filed on behalf of parties who allege losses as a result of manipulation relating to the setting of U.S. dollar LIBOR. The six civil actions pending against us that do not relate to U.S. dollar LIBOR are also pending in the SDNY, and include two actions concerning Yen LIBOR and Euroyen TIBOR, one action concerning EURIBOR, one consolidated action concerning Pound Sterling (GBP) LIBOR, one action concerning Swiss franc (CHF) LIBOR, and one action concerning two Singapore Dollar (SGD) benchmark rates, the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR) and the Swap Offer Rate (SOR).
Deutsche Bank | 38 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
We cannot predict the effect on us of the interbank offered rates matters, which could include fines levied by government bodies, damages from private litigation for which we may be liable, legal and regulatory sanctions (including possible criminal sanctions) and other consequences.
This uncertainty is further exacerbated by several factors outside of our control, such as the high profile of these matters and the contours of other financial institutions settlement negotiations. In addition, regulatory and law enforcement authorities may make assessments about the conduct of institutions in the industry as a whole, which may influence their actions with respect to us. Any fines, damages, legal or regulatory sanctions or other consequences may have a material adverse effect, beyond provisions taken, on our results of operations, financial condition or reputation.
We have received inquiries from regulatory and law enforcement authorities, including requests for information and documents, pertaining to investigations of precious metals trading and related conduct. The investigations underway have the potential to result in the imposition of significant financial penalties and other consequences for us. We are also named as a defendant in several putative class action complaints in respect of precious metals trading and related conduct.
We have received inquiries from certain regulatory and law enforcement authorities, including requests for information and documents, pertaining to investigations of precious metals trading and related conduct. We are cooperating with these investigations and engaging with relevant authorities, as appropriate. The investigations underway have the potential to result in the imposition of significant financial penalties and other consequences for us. Relatedly, we have been conducting our own internal review of our historic participation in the precious metals benchmarks and other aspects of our precious metals trading and precious metals business.
In addition, we are a defendant in Canadian class action proceedings in the province of Ontario concerning gold and in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec concerning silver. Each of the proceedings seeks damages for alleged violations of the Canadian Competition Act and other causes of action. These complaints may result in material liability for us.
We have investigated the circumstances around equity trades entered into by certain clients in Moscow and London and have advised regulators and law enforcement authorities in several jurisdictions about those trades. In the event that violations of law or regulation are found to have occurred, any resulting penalties against us may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We have investigated the circumstances around equity trades entered into by certain clients with us in Moscow and London that offset one another. The total volume of the transactions under review is significant. Our internal investigation of potential violations of law, regulation and policy and into the related internal control environment has concluded, and we are assessing the findings identified during the investigation; to date we have identified certain violations of our policies and deficiencies in our control environment. We have advised regulators and law enforcement authorities in several jurisdictions (including Germany, Russia, the UK and U.S.) of this investigation and have taken disciplinary measures with regards to certain individuals in this matter and will continue to do so with respect to others as warranted. On January 30 and 31, 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced settlements with the Bank related to their investigations into this matter. The settlements conclude the DFS and the FCAs investigations into the banks anti-money laundering (AML) control function in its investment banking division, including in relation to the equity trading described above. Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the DFS, Deutsche Bank entered into a Consent Order, and agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of U.S.$ 425 million and to engage an independent monitor to conduct a comprehensive review of its existing AML compliance programs that pertain to or affect activities conducted by or through DBTCA and our New York branch for a term of up to two years. Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the FCA, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of approximately GBP 163 million. The settlement amounts were already materially reflected in existing litigation reserves. Deutsche Bank is cooperating with other regulators and law enforcement authorities (including the DOJ and the Federal Reserve), which have their own ongoing investigations into these securities trades. In the event that violations of law or regulation are found to have occurred, legal and regulatory sanctions in respect thereof may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
39 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the United States are investigating whether our historical processing of certain U.S. dollar payment orders for parties from countries subject to U.S. embargo laws complied with U.S. federal and state laws. While we have settled some matters, other investigations are still in progress and the eventual outcomes of these matters are unpredictable, and may continue materially and adversely to affect our results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We have received requests for information from certain regulatory and law enforcement agencies concerning our historical processing of U.S. dollar payment orders through U.S. financial institutions for parties from countries subject to U.S. embargo laws. These agencies are investigating whether such processing complied with U.S. federal and state laws. On November 3, 2015, we entered into agreements with the New York State Department of Financial Services and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to resolve their investigations of us. We paid the two agencies U.S.$ 200 million and U.S.$ 58 million, respectively, and agreed to terminate certain employees, not rehire certain former employees and install an independent monitor for one year. In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ordered certain remedial measures, specifically, the requirement to ensure an effective OFAC compliance program and an annual review of such program by an independent party until the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is satisfied as to its effectiveness. We continue to provide information to and otherwise cooperate with other investigating agencies (which include the DOJ). While it is too early to predict, the eventual outcomes of the investigations to which we are subject may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We have been subject to contractual claims, litigation and governmental investigations in respect of our U.S. residential mortgage loan business that may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition or reputation.
From 2005 through 2008, as part of our U.S. residential mortgage loan business, we sold approximately U.S.$ 84 billion of loans into private label securitizations and U.S.$ 71 billion through whole loan sales. We have been, and may in the future be, presented with demands to repurchase loans from purchasers, investors and financial insurers based on alleged material breaches of representations and warranties or to indemnify such persons with respect to losses allegedly caused thereby. Our general practice is to process valid repurchase claims that are presented in compliance with contractual rights and applicable statutes of limitations. As of December 31, 2016, we have approximately U.S.$ 847 million of mortgage repurchase demands outstanding and not subject to agreements to rescind (based on original principal balance of the loans). Against these outstanding demands, we have established provisions of U.S.$ 173 million ( 164 million) as of December 31, 2016 (for part of which we are indemnified). As with provisions generally, however, it is possible that the provisions we have established may ultimately be insufficient, either with respect to particular claims or with respect to the full set of claims that have been or may be presented. There are other potential mortgage repurchase demands that we anticipate may be made, but we cannot reliably estimate their timing or amount. As of December 31, 2016, we have completed repurchases, obtained agreements to rescind or otherwise settled claims on loans with an original principal balance of approximately U.S.$ 8.8 billion. In connection with those repurchases, agreements and settlements, we have obtained releases for potential claims on approximately U.S.$ 98.1 billion of loans sold by us as described above.
From 2005 through 2008, we or our affiliates have also acted as an underwriter of approximately U.S.$ 105 billion of U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (referred to as RMBS) for third-party originators.
As is the case with a significant number of other participants in the mortgage securitizations market and as described in Note 30 Provisions to the consolidated financial statements, we have received subpoenas and requests for information from certain regulators and government entities concerning our activities regarding the origination, purchase, securitization, sale, valuation and/or trading of mortgage loans, RMBS, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), other asset-backed securities and credit derivatives. We are cooperating fully in response to those subpoenas and requests for information. Some of these investigations are similar in nature to those that led to other financial institutions entering into settlements with members of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of the U.S. Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and paying significant penalties.
Deutsche Bank | 40 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Discussions with the DOJ concerning a settlement of potential claims that the DOJ was considering bringing based on its investigation of our RMBS origination and securitization activities began with an initial demand of U.S.$ 14 billion on September 12, 2016. On December 23, 2016, we announced that we reached a settlement-in-principle with the DOJ to resolve potential claims related to our RMBS business conducted from 2005 to 2007. The settlement became final and was announced by the DOJ on January 17, 2017. Under the settlement, we paid a civil monetary penalty of U.S.$ 3.1 billion and agreed to provide U.S.$ 4.1 billion in consumer relief. Other investigations of us concerning the foregoing businesses remain ongoing, and we remain exposed to further action.
We also have numerous pending lawsuits against us or our affiliates as issuer, underwriter and/or trustee of RMBS. Such pending RMBS litigations are in various stages and we continue to defend these actions vigorously while seeking opportunities to achieve sensible out of court resolutions.
Legal and regulatory proceedings are subject to many uncertainties, and the outcome of individual matters is not predictable. The extent of our financial exposure to these matters could be material, and our reputation may suffer material harm as a result of these matters.
We are currently involved in civil proceedings in connection with our voluntary takeover offer for the acquisition of all shares of Postbank. The extent of our financial exposure to this matter could be material, and our reputation may be harmed.
On September 12, 2010, we announced the decision to make a voluntary takeover offer for the acquisition of all shares in Deutsche Postbank AG. On October 7, 2010, we published the official offer document. In our takeover offer, we offered Postbank shareholders consideration of 25 for each Postbank share. The takeover offer was accepted for a total of approximately 48.2 million Postbank shares.
In November 2010, a former shareholder of Postbank, Effecten-Spiegel AG, which had accepted the takeover offer, brought a claim against us alleging that the offer price was too low and was not determined in accordance with the applicable law of the Federal Republic of Germany. The plaintiff alleges that we had been obliged to make a mandatory takeover offer for all shares in Deutsche Postbank AG, at the latest, in 2009. The plaintiff avers that, at the latest in 2009, the voting rights of Deutsche Post AG in Deutsche Postbank AG had to be attributed to us pursuant to Section 30 of the German Takeover Act. Based thereon, the plaintiff alleges that the consideration offered by us for the shares in Deutsche Postbank AG in the 2010 voluntary takeover offer needed to be raised to 57.25 per share.
The Cologne District Court dismissed the claim in 2011 and the Cologne appellate court dismissed the appeal in 2012. The Federal Court set aside the Cologne appellate courts judgment and referred the case back to the appellate court. In its judgment, the Federal Court stated that the appellate court had not sufficiently considered the plaintiffs allegation that we and Deutsche Post AG acted in concert in 2009. The Cologne appellate court has scheduled a further hearing for November 8, 2017.
Starting in 2014, additional former shareholders of Deutsche Postbank AG, who accepted the 2010 tender offer, brought similar claims as Effecten-Spiegel AG against us which are pending with the Cologne District Court, and three of these plaintiffs applied for model case proceedings (Musterverfahren) under the German Capital Markets Model Case Act. The Cologne District Court has heard these follow-on matters on January 27, 2017 and announced its intention to publish a decision on April 28, 2017.
In September 2015, former shareholders of Deutsche Postbank AG filed in the Cologne District Court shareholder actions against Deutsche Postbank AG to set aside the squeeze-out resolution taken in the shareholders meeting of Deutsche Postbank AG in August 2015. Among other things, the plaintiffs allege that we (Deutsche Bank AG) were subject to a suspension of voting rights with respect to our shares in Postbank based on the allegation that we failed to make a mandatory takeover offer at a higher price in 2009. The squeeze out is final and the proceeding itself has no reversal effect, but may result in damage payments. The claimants in this proceeding refer to legal arguments similar to those asserted in the Effecten-Spiegel proceeding described above. The Cologne District Court indicated its intention to announce a decision in the spring of 2017.
The extent of our financial exposure to this matter could be material, and our reputation may be harmed.
41 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
We are currently involved in civil and criminal proceedings in connection with transactions with Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The extent of our financial exposure to these matters could be material, and our reputation may be harmed.
In February 2013 Banca Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, which we refer to as MPS, issued civil proceedings in Italy against us alleging that we assisted former MPS senior management in an accounting fraud on MPS, by undertaking repo transactions with MPS and Santorini, a wholly owned SPV of MPS, which helped MPS defer losses on a previous transaction undertaken with us. Subsequently, in July 2013, the Fondazione Monte Dei Paschi, MPS largest shareholder, also commenced civil proceedings in Italy for damages based on substantially the same facts. In December 2013, we reached an agreement with MPS to settle the civil proceedings and the transactions were unwound at a discount for MPS. The civil proceedings by the Fondazione Monte Dei Paschi, in which damages of between 220 million and 381 million are claimed, remain pending. The Fondaziones separate claim filed in July 2014 against their former administrators and a syndicate of 12 banks including DB S.p.A. for 286 million has resumed before the Florence Court.
A criminal investigation was launched by the Siena Public Prosecutor into the transactions and certain unrelated transactions entered into by MPS with other parties. Such investigation was moved in summer 2014 from Siena to the Milan Public Prosecutors as a result of a change in the alleged charges being investigated. On February 16, 2016, the Milan Public Prosecutors issued a request of committal to trial against us and six current and former employees. The committal process concluded with a hearing on October 1, 2016, during which the Milan court committed all defendants in the criminal proceedings to trial. Our potential exposure is for administrative liability under Italian Legislative Decree n. 231/2001 and for civil vicarious liability as an employer of current and former employees who are being criminally prosecuted. Trial commenced on December 15, 2016 and is ongoing. We continue to cooperate and update our regulators. The extent of our financial exposure to these matters could be material, and our reputation may suffer material harm as a result of these matters.
We are currently involved in a legal dispute with the German tax authorities in relation to the tax treatment of certain income received with respect to our pension plan assets. The proceeding is pending in front of the relevant lower fiscal court. Should the courts ultimately rule in favor of the German tax authorities, the outcome could have a material effect on our comprehensive income and financial condition.
We sponsor a number of post-employment benefit plans on behalf of our employees. In Germany, the pension assets that fund the obligations under these pension plans are held by Benefit Trust GmbH. The German tax authorities are challenging the tax treatment of certain income received by Benefit Trust GmbH in the years 2010 to 2013 with respect to its pension plan assets. For the year 2010 Benefit Trust GmbH paid the amount of tax and interest assessed of 160 million to the tax authorities and is seeking a refund of the amounts paid in litigation with the relevant lower fiscal court. For 2011 to 2013 the matter is stayed pending the outcome of the 2010 tax litigation. The amount of tax and interest under dispute for years 2011 to 2013, which also has been paid to the tax authorities, amounts to 456 million. Any decision by the lower fiscal court is potentially subject to appeal by either party and thus a resolution of the matter may not take place for a number of years. An ultimate decision by the courts that is unfavorable to us could materially and adversely affect our comprehensive income and financial condition.
Guilty pleas by or convictions of us or our affiliates in criminal proceedings may have consequences that have adverse effects on certain of our businesses.
We and our affiliates have been and are subjects of criminal proceedings or investigations. In particular, as part of the resolution of the investigation of the DOJ into misconduct relating to interbank offered rates, our subsidiary DB Group Services (UK) Ltd. entered into a plea agreement with the DOJ, pursuant to which the company pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. Also, in connection with the KOSPI Index unwind matters, our subsidiary Deutsche Securities Korea Co. was convicted of vicarious corporate criminal liability in respect of spot/futures linked market manipulation by its employees. We and our subsidiaries are also subjects of other criminal proceedings or investigations.
Deutsche Bank | 42 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Guilty pleas or convictions against us or our affiliates could lead to our ineligibility to use an important trading exemption under ERISA. In particular, such guilty pleas or convictions could cause our affiliates to no longer qualify as a qualified professional asset manager (QPAM) under the QPAM Prohibited Transaction Exemption, which exemption is relied on to provide asset management services to certain pension plans in connection with certain asset management strategies. Loss of QPAM status could cause customers who rely on such status (whether because they are legally required to do so or because we have agreed contractually with them to maintain such status) to cease to do business or refrain from doing business with us and could negatively impact our reputation more generally. In addition, other clients may mistakenly see the loss as a signal that we are somehow no longer approved by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the agency responsible for ERISA, and cease to do business or refrain from doing business with us for that reason. This could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, particularly those of our asset management business in the United States. We have filed an application with the DOL for exemptive relief permitting us to retain our QPAM status despite both the guilty plea of DB Group Services (UK) Ltd. and the conviction of Deutsche Securities Korea Co. The DOL has granted us a temporary QPAM exemption, effective through the earlier of April 23, 2017 or the effective date of a permanent QPAM exemption, if granted to us by the DOL, covering both the guilty plea and the conviction. We have provided additional information to the DOL in support of our QPAM application which is still pending with the DOL. It is unclear whether the QPAM application will be approved, and a denial, and thus loss of QPAM status, could occur, with the potential for the adverse effects described above.
In addition to our traditional banking businesses of deposit-taking and lending, we also engage in nontraditional credit businesses in which credit is extended in transactions that include, for example, our holding of securities of third parties or our engaging in complex derivative transactions. These nontraditional credit businesses materially increase our exposure to credit risk.
As a bank and provider of financial services, we are exposed to the risk that third parties who owe us money, securities or other assets will not perform their obligations. Many of the businesses we engage in beyond the traditional banking businesses of deposit-taking and lending also expose us to credit risk.
In particular, much of the business we conduct through our Global Markets corporate division entails credit transactions, frequently ancillary to other transactions. Nontraditional sources of credit risk can arise, for example, from holding securities of third parties; entering into swap or other derivative contracts under which counterparties have obligations to make payments to us; executing securities, futures, currency or commodity trades that fail to settle at the required time due to nondelivery by the counterparty or systems failure by clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses or other financial intermediaries; and extending credit through other arrangements. Parties to these transactions, such as trading counterparties, may default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, political and economic events, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons.
Many of our derivative transactions are individually negotiated and non-standardized, which can make exiting, transferring or settling the position difficult. Certain credit derivatives require that we deliver to the counterparty the underlying security, loan or other obligation in order to receive payment. In a number of cases, we do not hold, and may not be able to obtain, the underlying security, loan or other obligation. This could cause us to forfeit the payments otherwise due to us or result in settlement delays, which could damage our reputation and ability to transact future business, as well as impose increased costs on us. Recently enacted legislation in the European Union (EMIR) and the U.S. (the Dodd-Frank Act) has introduced requirements for the standardization, margining, central clearing and transaction reporting of certain over-the-counter derivatives. While such requirements are aimed at reducing the risk posed to counterparties and the financial system by such derivatives, they may reduce the volume and profitability of the transactions in which we engage, and compliance with such provisions may impose substantial costs on us.
The exceptionally difficult market conditions experienced since the global financial crisis severely adversely affected certain areas in which we do business that entail nontraditional credit risks, including the leveraged finance and structured credit markets, and may do so in the future.
43 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
A substantial proportion of the assets and liabilities on our balance sheet comprise financial instruments that we carry at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in our income statement. As a result of such changes, we have incurred losses in the past, and may incur further losses in the future.
A substantial proportion of the assets and liabilities on our balance sheet comprise financial instruments that we carry at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in the income statement. Fair value is defined as the price at which an asset or liability could be exchanged in an arms length transaction between knowledgeable, willing parties, other than in a forced or liquidation sale. If the value of an asset carried at fair value declines (or the value of a liability carried at fair value increases) a corresponding unfavorable change in fair value is recognized in the income statement. These changes have been and could in the future be significant. Additionally, in recent periods there has been a significant difference between fair value and book value for some assets.
Observable prices or inputs are not available for certain classes of financial instruments. Fair value is determined in these cases using valuation techniques we believe to be appropriate for the particular instrument. The application of valuation techniques to determine fair value involves estimation and management judgment, the extent of which will vary with the degree of complexity of the instrument and liquidity in the market. Management judgment is required in the selection and application of the appropriate parameters, assumptions and modeling techniques. If any of the assumptions change due to negative market conditions or for other reasons, subsequent valuations may result in significant changes in the fair values of our financial instruments, requiring us to record losses.
Our exposure and related changes in fair value are reported net of any fair value gains we may record in connection with hedging transactions related to the underlying assets. However, we may never realize these gains, and the fair value of the hedges may change in future periods for a number of reasons, including as a result of deterioration in the credit of our hedging counterparties. Such declines may be independent of the fair values of the underlying hedged assets or liabilities and may result in future losses.
Our risk management policies, procedures and methods leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risks, which could lead to material losses.
We have devoted significant resources to developing our risk management policies, procedures and assessment methods and intend to continue to do so in the future. Nonetheless, the risk management techniques and strategies have not been and may in the future not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all economic market environments or against all types of risk, including risks that we fail to identify or anticipate. Some of our quantitative tools and metrics for managing risk are based upon our use of observed historical market behavior. We apply statistical and other tools to these observations to arrive at quantifications of our risk exposures. During the financial crisis, the financial markets experienced unprecedented levels of volatility (rapid changes in price direction) and the breakdown of historically observed correlations (the extent to which prices move in tandem) across asset classes, compounded by extremely limited liquidity. In this volatile market environment, our risk management tools and metrics failed to predict some of the losses we experienced, particularly in 2008, and may in the future fail to predict important risk exposures. In addition, our quantitative modeling does not take all risks into account and makes numerous assumptions regarding the overall environment, which may not be borne out by events. As a result, risk exposures have arisen and could continue to arise from factors we did not anticipate or correctly evaluate in our statistical models. This has limited and could continue to limit our ability to manage our risks especially in light of geopolitical developments, many of the outcomes of which are currently unforeseeable. Our losses thus have been and may in the future be significantly greater than the historical measures indicate.
In addition, our more qualitative approach to managing those risks not taken into account by our quantitative methods could also prove insufficient, exposing us to material unanticipated losses. Also, if existing or potential customers or counterparties believe our risk management is inadequate, they could take their business elsewhere or seek to limit their transactions with us. This could harm our reputation as well as our revenues and profits. See Management Report: Risk Report beginning on page 88 of the Annual Report 2016 for a more detailed discussion of the policies, procedures and methods we use to identify, monitor and manage our risks.
Deutsche Bank | 44 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Operational risks, which may arise from errors in the performance of our processes, the conduct of our employees, instability, malfunction or outage of our IT system and infrastructure, or loss of business continuity, or comparable issues with respect to our vendors, may disrupt our businesses and lead to material losses.
We face operational risk arising from errors, inadvertent or intentional, made in the execution, confirmation or settlement of transactions or from transactions not being properly recorded, evaluated or accounted for. An example of this risk concerns our derivative contracts, which are not always confirmed with the counterparties on a timely basis. For so long as the transaction remains unconfirmed, we are subject to heightened credit and operational risk and in the event of a default may find it more difficult to enforce the contract. The European sovereign debt crisis and the global financial crisis, in which the risk of counterparty default increased, have increased the possibility that this operational risk materializes.
In addition, our businesses are highly dependent on our ability to process manually or through our systems a large number of transactions on a daily basis, across numerous and diverse markets in many currencies. Some of the transactions have become increasingly complex. Moreover, management relies heavily on its financial, accounting and other data processing systems that include manual processing components. If any of these processes or systems do not operate properly, or are disabled, or subject to intentional or inadvertent human error, we could suffer financial loss, a disruption of our businesses, liability to clients, regulatory intervention or reputational damage.
We are also dependent on our employees to conduct our business in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and generally accepted business standards. If our employees do not conduct our business in this manner, we may be exposed to material losses. Furthermore, if an employees misconduct reflects fraudulent intent, we could also be exposed to reputational damage. We categorize these risks as conduct risk, which comprises inappropriate business practices, including selling products that are not suitable for a particular customer, fraud, unauthorized trading and failure to comply with applicable regulations, laws and internal policies.
We in particular face the risk of loss events due to the instability, malfunction or outage of our IT system and IT infrastructure. Such losses could materially affect our ability to perform business processes and may, for example, arise from the erroneous or delayed execution of processes as either a result of system outages or degraded services in systems and IT applications. A delay in processing a transaction, for example, could result in an operational loss if market conditions worsen during the period after the error. IT-related errors may also result in the mishandling of confidential information, damage to our computer systems, financial losses, additional costs for repairing systems, reputational damage, customer dissatisfaction or potential regulatory or litigation exposure.
Business continuity risk is the risk of incurring losses resulting from the interruption of normal business activities. We operate in many geographic locations and are frequently subject to the occurrence of events outside of our control. Despite the contingency plans we have in place, our ability to conduct business in any of these locations may be adversely impacted by a disruption to the infrastructure that supports our business, whether as a result of, for example, events that affect our third party vendors or the community or public infrastructure in which we operate. Any number of events could cause such a disruption including deliberate acts such as sabotage, terrorist activities, bomb threats, strikes, riots and assaults on the banks staff; natural calamities such as hurricanes, snow storms, floods, disease pandemic and earthquakes; or other unforeseen incidents such as accidents, fires, explosions, utility outages and political unrest. Any such disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial position.
Services provided by third-party vendors bear comparable risks as if they were performed by ourselves, and we are ultimately responsible for the services. We are dependent on our vendors to conduct our business services in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and generally accepted business standards. If our vendors do not conduct our business in this manner, we may be exposed to material losses and could be subject to regulatory action. Furthermore, if a vendors misconduct reflects fraudulent intent, we could also be exposed to reputational damage.
45 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Our operational systems are subject to an increasing risk of cyber attacks and other internet crime, which could result in material losses of client or customer information, damage our reputation and lead to regulatory penalties and financial losses.
Among the operational risks we face is the risk of breaches of the security of our computer systems due to unauthorized access to networks or resources, the introduction of computer viruses or malware, or other forms of cyber attack or internet crime. Such breaches could threaten the confidentiality of our clients data and the integrity of our systems. We devote significant resources toward the protection of our computer systems against such breaches. To address the evolving cyber threat risk, we have expended significant resources to modify and enhance our protective measures and to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, a residual risk remains that such measures may not be effective against all threats. Given our global footprint and the volume of transactions we process, certain errors or actions may be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and rectified.
We and other financial institutions have experienced attacks on computer systems, including attacks aimed at obtaining unauthorized access to confidential company or customer information or damaging or interfering with company data, resources or business activities. The increasing frequency and sophistication of recent cyber-attacks has resulted in an elevated risk profile for many organizations around the world, and significant attention by our management has been paid to the overall level of preparedness against such attacks. Cyber security is growing in importance due to factors such as the continued and increasing reliance on our technology environment. Although we have to date not experienced any material loss of data from these attacks, it is possible, given the use of new technologies and increasing reliance on the Internet and the varying nature and evolving sophistication of such attacks, that we may not be able to effectively anticipate and prevent all such attacks. A successful attack could have a significant negative impact on us, including as a result of disclosure or misappropriation of client or proprietary information, damage to computer systems, financial losses, additional costs to us (such as for investigation and reestablishing services), reputational damage, customer dissatisfaction and potential regulatory or litigation exposure.
The size of our clearing operations exposes us to a heightened risk of material losses should these operations fail to function properly.
We have large clearing and settlement businesses and an increasingly complex and interconnected information technology (IT) landscape. These give rise to the risk that we, our customers or other third parties could lose substantial sums if our systems fail to operate properly for even short periods. This will be the case even where the reason for the interruption is external to us. In such a case, we might suffer harm to our reputation even if no material amounts of money are lost. This could cause customers to take their business elsewhere, which could materially harm our revenues and profits.
We may have difficulty in identifying and executing acquisitions, and both making acquisitions and avoiding them could materially harm our results of operations and our share price.
We consider business combinations from time to time. Even though we review the companies, businesses, assets, liabilities or contracts we plan to acquire, it is generally not feasible for these reviews to be complete in all respects. As a result, we may assume unanticipated liabilities, or an acquisition may not perform as well as expected. Were we to announce or complete a significant business combination transaction, our share price could decline significantly if investors viewed the transaction as too costly or unlikely to improve our competitive position. In addition, we might have difficulty integrating any entity with which we combine our operations. Failure to complete announced business combinations or failure to integrate acquired businesses successfully into ours could materially and adversely affect our profitability. It could also affect investors perception of our business prospects and management, and thus cause our share price to fall. It could also lead to departures of key employees, or lead to increased costs and reduced profitability if we felt compelled to offer them financial incentives to remain.
Deutsche Bank | 46 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Intense competition, in our home market of Germany as well as in international markets, could materially adversely impact our revenues and profitability.
Competition is intense in all of our primary business areas, in Germany as well as in international markets. If we are unable to respond to the competitive environment in these markets with attractive product and service offerings that are profitable for us, we may lose market share in important areas of our business or incur losses on some or all of our activities. In addition, downturns in the economies of these markets could add to the competitive pressure, through, for example, increased price pressure and lower business volumes for us.
In recent years there has been substantial consolidation and convergence among financial services companies, culminating in unprecedented consolidations in the course of the global financial crisis. This trend has significantly increased the capital base and geographic reach of some of our competitors and has hastened the globalization of the securities and other financial services markets. As a result, we must compete with financial institutions that may be larger and better capitalized than we are and that may have a stronger position in local markets. Also, governmental action in response to the global financial crisis may place us at a competitive disadvantage.
In addition to our traditional competitors such as other universal banks and financial services firms, an emerging group of future competitors in the form of start-ups and technology firms are showing an increasing interest in banking services and products. These new competitors could increase competition in both core products, e.g., payments, basic accounts and loans and investment advisory, as well as in new products, e.g., peer to peer lending and equity crowd funding.
Transactions with counterparties in countries designated by the U.S. State Department as state sponsors of terrorism or persons targeted by U.S. economic sanctions may lead potential customers and investors to avoid doing business with us or investing in our securities, harm our reputation or result in regulatory action which could materially and adversely affect our business.
We engage or have engaged in a limited amount of business with counterparties, including government-owned or -controlled counterparties, in certain countries or territories that are subject to comprehensive sanctions, including Iran and Cuba (referred to as Sanctioned Countries), or with persons targeted by U.S. economic sanctions (referred to as Sanctioned Persons). U.S. law generally prohibits U.S. persons or any other persons acting within U.S. jurisdiction from doing business with Sanctioned Countries or Sanctioned Persons. Thus, U.S. regulations may extend to activities in other geographic areas and by non-U.S. persons depending on the circumstances. Our U.S. subsidiaries, branch offices, and employees are and our non-U.S. subsidiaries, branch offices, and employees may become subject to those prohibitions and other regulations. We are a German bank and our activities with respect to Sanctioned Countries and Sanctioned Persons have been subject to policies and procedures designed to avoid the involvement of persons acting within U.S. jurisdiction in any managerial or operational role and to ensure compliance with United Nations, European Union and German embargoes; in reflection of legal developments in recent years, we further developed our policies and procedures with the aim of ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements extending to other geographic areas regardless of jurisdiction. However, should our policies prove to have been ineffective, we may be subject to regulatory action that could materially and adversely affect our business. By 2007, our Management Board decided that we will not engage in new business with counterparties in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea and to exit existing business to the extent legally possible. It also decided to limit our business with counterparties in Cuba. Of these, Iran, Sudan and Syria are currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. State Department.
We had a representative office in Tehran, Iran, which we discontinued at December 31, 2007. Our remaining business with Iranian counterparties consists mostly of participations as lender and/or agent in a few large trade finance facilities arranged before 2007 to finance the export contracts of exporters in Europe and Asia. The lifetime of most of these facilities is ten years or more and we are legally obligated to fulfill our contractual obligations. We do not believe our business activities with Iranian counterparties are material to our overall business, with the outstanding loans to Iranian borrowers representing substantially less than 0.01 % of our total assets as of December 31, 2016 and the revenues from all such activities representing less than 0.01 % of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2016.
47 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
In recent years, the United States has taken steps, including the passage of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012, and a number of Executive Orders, to deter foreign companies from dealing with Iran by providing for possible sanctions against companies that provide services in support of certain Iranian activity in (among others) the financial, energy, shipping or military sectors or with certain Iranian counterparties, whether or not such dealings occur within U.S jurisdiction. Among the targets of these indirect, or secondary, U.S. economic sanctions are foreign financial institutions that, among other things, facilitate significant transactions with, or provide significant financial services to, a wide range of Iranian entities, persons, and financial institutions.
Following the occurrence on January 16, 2016 of Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between the P5+1 parties and Iran, pursuant to which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program and the P5+1 parties agreed to provide certain sanctions relief, secondary sanctions targeting Iran have been narrowed but not eliminated. Following the Implementation Day, we engage in new activities with respect to Iran, but only to a limited extent. We execute cash payments in Euro from or to Iran on behalf of our own non-Iranian clients with enhanced due diligence. In principle, we remain restrictive towards any new trade finance activities and do not plan to engage in loan arrangements with Iranian counterparties.
We do not believe we have engaged in activities sanctionable under these statutes, but the U.S. authorities have considerable discretion in applying the statutes, and any imposition of sanctions against us could be material. It is also possible that primary and secondary sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other jurisdictions could be expanded in the future, particularly if the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran is not considered to be effective. Proposals for expanded sanctions are discussed on a continuing basis in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere.
As required by Section 219 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (Section 13(r) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) we have disclosed certain information regarding our activities or transactions with persons subject to U.S. sanctions against Iran and other persons subject to such provision. Such disclosure is set forth in the section of this document entitled Disclosures Under Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, which follows Item 16H: Mine Safety Disclosure.
We are also engaged in a limited amount of business with counterparties domiciled in Cuba, which is not subject to any United Nations, European Union or German embargo. The business consists of a limited number of letters of credit, as well as claims resulting from letters of credit, and it represented substantially less than 0.01 % of our assets as of December 31, 2016. The transactions served to finance commercial products such as machinery as well as medical products.
We are aware, through press reports and other means, of initiatives by governmental and non-governmental entities in the United States and elsewhere to adopt laws, regulations or policies prohibiting transactions with or investment in, or requiring divestment from, entities doing business with Sanctioned Countries, particularly Iran. Such initiatives may result in our being unable to gain or retain entities subject to such prohibitions as customers or as investors in our securities. In addition, our reputation may suffer due to our association with such countries. Such a result could have significant adverse effects on our business or the price of our securities. It is also possible that new direct or indirect secondary sanctions could be imposed by the United States or other jurisdictions without warning as a result of geopolitical developments.
Deutsche Bank | 48 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Item 4: Information on the Company
History and Development of the Company
The legal and commercial name of our company is Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft. It is a stock corporation organized under the laws of Germany.
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft originated from the reunification of Norddeutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg, Rheinisch-Westfälische Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Düsseldorf, and Süddeutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Munich. Pursuant to the Law on the Regional Scope of Credit Institutions, these were disincorporated in 1952 from Deutsche Bank, which had been founded in 1870. The merger and the name were entered in the Commercial Register of the District Court Frankfurt am Main on May 2, 1957.
We are registered under registration number HRB 30 000. Our registered address is Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and our telephone number is +49-69-910-00. Our agent in the United States is: Deutsche Bank Americas, c/o Office of the Secretary, 60 Wall Street, Mail Stop NYC60-4099, New York, NY 10005.
For information on significant capital expenditures and divestitures, please see Management Report: Operating and Financial Review: Deutsche Bank Group: Significant Capital Expenditures and Divestitures on page 46 of the Annual Report 2016.
Our Organization
Please see Management Report: Operating and Financial Review: Deutsche Bank Group: Our Organization on page 38 of the Annual Report 2016. For information on net revenues by geographic area and by corporate division please see Note 4 Business Segments and Related Information: Entity-Wide Disclosures to the consolidated financial statements and Management Report: Operating and Financial Review: Results of Operations: Segment Results of Operations on pages 56 through 58 of the Annual Report 2016.
Management Structure
Please see Management Report: Operating and Financial Review: Deutsche Bank Group: Management Structure on page 39 of the Annual Report 2016.
49 | Deutsche Bank | PART I 9 | Signatures 128 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | PART II 116 | Financial Report 129 | ||||||
PART III 127 | Supplemental Financial Information | |||||||
(Unaudited) S-1 | ||||||||
Our Business Strategy
We are a leading European bank with a global reach supported by a strong home base in Germany, Europes largest economy. We serve the real economy needs of our corporate, institutional, asset management and private clients, providing services in transaction banking, corporate finance and capital markets, asset management, wealth management and retail banking.
Our franchise remained strong across our core businesses despite a challenging environment in 2016. We were a top three investment bank in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) on the basis of investment banking fees according to Dealogic; a top-five global transaction bank on the basis of publicly reported revenues; a top-six global sales & trading franchise and the number one franchise among European banks based on publicly reported sales & trading revenues; a leading asset manager that is the second largest provider of exchange traded products and exchange traded funds in Europe and the largest retail asset management presence in Germany based on publicly reported assets under management; the largest private and commercial bank in Germany with over 20 million clients; and the number one wealth manager in Germany based on assets under management.
Update on Strategy Execution
We outlined a multi-year strategy in October 2015 to build on the core strengths of our business model and client franchise. The four key goals were to be: simpler and more efficient, less risky, better capitalized and better run with more disciplined execution.
In 2016, we made material progress towards our goals in what proved to be an unexpectedly challenging market environment. Major achievements in 2016 included:
| A reduction of our adjusted costs1 by 7 % (by 5 % excluding the effect of changes in exchange rates) in 2016 to 24.7 billion. |
| The completion, on schedule, of the accelerated wind down of the Non-Core Operations Unit, which was then closed at the start of 2017. |
| The settlement or resolution of over two dozen major litigation matters, including some of our most significant litigation matters such as the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) relating to U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). |
| The completion of key strategic disposals, including the sale of our stake in the Hua Xia Bank and the sales of Abbey Life and the U.S. Private Client Services. |
| All previously announced country exits completed or on track for completion in 2017. |
| The transformation of the German retail business including branch reductions is well on track. |
| The strengthening of our CET1 ratio to 11.8 % on a fully loaded basis and 13.4 % on a phase-in basis at year end 2016, increases of 70 basis points and 20 basis points respectively from December 31, 2015. The strengthening of the CET1 ratios largely reflected managed reductions in risk-weighted assets (RWA) over the course of 2016. |
| Substantial investment in our control functions, including the ongoing implementation of a more comprehensive Know-Your-Client (KYC) process and an off-boarding process for higher risk clients. |
| The replacement or reassignment of approximately 70 % of top management to drive improved execution of our strategy. |
Global Markets (GM) has completed the reshaping of the Securitized Trading business (ahead of the targeted timeline), substantially completed its targeted leverage reduction in Agency RMBS, strengthened Know-Your-Client (KYC) processes and controls, ceased active coverage of approximately 3,800 clients identified as high risk/low potential, completed most of its country optimization strategy in 2016 (ahead of schedule), and remains on target to complete the remainder on time. GM has also completed the exit of its residual presence in South Korea, Russia and Brazil.
Deutsche Bank | 50 | |||||
Annual Report 2016 on Form 20-F | ||||||
Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) has sharpened its focus on priority clients and banker productivity to optimize returns across the CIB business. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment in the eurozone, we remained a top 3 investment bank in EMEA and continued to be involved in some of the largest deals. We also continued to deliver resilient Transaction Banking results in a challenging market environment with prolonged low interest rates, a volatile geo-political backdrop, and its implications for global trade. A new global head was recently appointed to lead the Global Transaction Banking business.
The Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) franchise continues to perform very well amidst some challenging and volatile market conditions. We recently completed the sale of the Abbey Life unit to Phoenix Life Holdings. This improved the Banks CET1 ratio by approximately 10 basis points. The Bank also hired and appointed a new head of Asset Management, Nicolas Moreau, to drive the future growth of the Deutsche AM business going forward.
The Private, Wealth & Commercial Clients (PW&CC) franchise is closing branches and reducing staff in the German retail business. PCC International branch closures are ahead of plan. PW&CC has also made significant progress on digitization initiatives, including the opening of the Digital Factory in Frankfurt in September 2016.
As per 2016 targets, the former corporate division NCOU successfully executed its de-risking strategy and achieved its 2016 year-end target risk weighted assets (RWA) of less than 10 billion. At the end of 2016, NCOU had 9.2 billion RWA and 7.9 billion leverage exposure, down from 32.9 billion RWA and 36.6 billion leverage exposure at the end of 2015. The residual NCOU assets have been transferred back to respective divisions they originally came from, as of the start of 2017.
In addition to the difficult operating environment in 2016 driven in large part by macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, we also faced substantial challenges specific to Deutsche Bank itself. These challenges arose from adverse speculation about our financial health. This led to concerns among some clients and counterparties and negatively affected revenues in 2016. That was particularly the case in the late third and early fourth quarters around the purported size of a settlement with the DOJ in respect of the RMBS matter and its potential impact on us.
1 | We define adjusted costs as total noninterest expenses excluding impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, litigation, restructuring and severance, and policyholder benefits and claims (until the disposition of Abbey Life). To exclude the effect of changes in exchange rates, 2015 adjusted costs were recalculated using 2016 monthly average exchange rates. |
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Overview of New Strategic Measures
The macroeconomic, geopolitical, and regulatory outlook has changed substantially since we launched our strategy in 2015. As a result of these changes in the operating environment and the substantial challenges specific to Deutsche Bank in 2016, we undertook an updated planning process and strategic review in late 2016 and early 2017.
This review has now been completed. Its fundamental conclusion is that our core business model of being a global bank, which serves a range of institutional, corporate and private clients combined with a strong home base in Germany with a resilient corporate, institutional, asset management and private client franchise, remains the foundation of our strength and long-term growth prospects.
Nonetheless, our management decided to undertake a number of new steps to further strengthen the bank and place it in a better position to pursue growth opportunities. These actions include:
| Substantially strengthened capitalization through a capital increase, expected to result in net proceeds of approximately 8 billion, which is expected to result in a CRR/CRD4 fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio (fully loaded CET 1 ratio) of approximately 14 % and a CRR/CRD4 fully loaded leverage ratio of approximately 4 % pro forma as of December 31, 2016. |
| Up to 2 billion of incremental capital creation targeted through the planned initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake in the Deutsche Asset Management division (Deutsche AM), and from additional business disposals with an identified RWA of approximately 10 billion and leverage exposure of approximately 30 billion, the majority of which we plan to complete over the next 18 months. |
| Reorganization of our business divisions into three distinct units, with the goals of strengthening the businesses of each, enhancing client coverage, improving market share and driving efficiencies and growth: |
| The new Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB) that combines our markets, advisory, financing and transaction banking businesses. |
| Private & Commercial Bank (PCB) that combines Postbank and our existing private, commercial and wealth management businesses. |
| An operationally segregated Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM). |
| The integration of Postbank and PCBs German business with the goal of creating a market leading retail presence in Germany, driving greater efficiency through scale and better earnings and funding stability for Deutsche Bank. |
| The establishment of a cost reduction program targeting to achieve adjusted costs of approximately 22 billion in 2018 and approximately 21 billion by 2021, which would include the impact of retaining Postbanks adjusted costs ( 2.7 billion in 2016). |
| Separately managing identified legacy asset portfolios with approximately 20 billion of RWA and approximately 60 billion leverage exposure targeted to be reduced to approximately 12 billion of RWA and approximately 30 billion leverage exposure, respectively, by 2020. |
| The incurrence of restructuring and severance costs of approximately 2 billion, the majority of which is expected to be incurred in 2017 to 2019. |
| Targeting a competitive dividend payout ratio for the financial year 2018 and thereafter with an intention that the Management Board will recommend at the Annual General Meeting in May 2017 to pay a dividend of 0.19 per share out of the distributable profit for the financial year 2016 taking into consideration the expected shares to be issued before the Annual General Meeting in May 2017 as part of our announced capital raise. The dividend to be paid out of Deutsche Bank AGs distributable profit for 2016 contains a component reflecting the distributable profit carried forward from 2015 of approximately 165 million and a dividend of 0.11 per share out of the remaining distributable profit for 2016. Overall, we expect to pay out a total dividend of approximately 400 million in 2017. |
| Targeting a Post-tax Return on Average Tangible Equity (RoTE) of circa 10 % in a normalized operating environment. |
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The fundamental goal of these additional strategic measures is to make Deutsche Bank a stronger, safer bank that is well positioned to pursue growth opportunities through its strong global client franchise. Our management believes we will be able to achieve this by:
| having capital levels the sufficiency of which are beyond question, |
| having a leading CIB franchise with the scale and strength to successfully compete and grow globally, |
| occupying the number one private and commercial banking position in our home market of Germany, |
| giving our world class Deutsche AM division operational segregation that can support accelerated growth, |
| reducing the size of our corporate center and cost base in part through more front to back alignment and shifting large portions of infrastructure functions to the business divisions, and |
| shifting our earnings and business mix more towards stable businesses. |
Impact of the Proposed Capital Raise
The proposed capital raise aims to make us much stronger from a capital perspective with an intention to remain comfortably above 13 % on a fully-loaded CET1 basis. The immediate impact of the capital raise, assuming it raises net proceeds of 8 billion, but excluding any additional capital impact resulting from the planned IPO of a minority stake in Deutsche AM or the additional portfolio of asset disposals, will be:
Phase-in CET1 Ratio:
| An increase from 13.4 % as reported on December 31, 2016 to 15.7 % on a pro-forma basis as of that date. |
| An improvement in the CET1 ratio under the phase-in rules effective January 1, 2017 from 12.6 % to 14.9 % on a pro-forma basis as of that date. |
Fully loaded CET1 Ratio would increase from 11.8 % as reported on December 31, 2016 to 14.1 % on a pro-forma basis as of that date.
Fully loaded leverage ratio would improve from 3.5 % as of December 31, 2016 to 4.1 % on a 2016 pro-forma basis as of the same date.
New Financial Targets
We have adopted new financial targets that replace the targets announced in October 2015. The new targets are:
| Adjusted costs of 22 billion by 2018, and 21 billion by 2021, which includes the adjusted costs of Postbank. |
| Post-tax RoTE of approximately 10 % in a normalized operating environment. |
| CET1 Ratio comfortably above 13 % on a fully loaded basis. |
| Leverage Ratio of 4.5 %. The pro forma 2016 leverage ratio reflecting the impact of the proposed capital raise is 4.1 %, which we aim to increase to 4.5 % over time. |
| Targeting a competitive dividend payout ratio for the financial year 2018 and thereafter. |
Our plan for 2017 is based on assumed foreign exchange rates of EUR/USD 1.01 and EUR/GBP 0.88.
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New Business Division Structure
Effective in 2017, we plan to have three business divisions going forward: the new CIB, PCB and Deutsche AM. CIB will combine the existing Corporate & Investment Banking and Global Markets divisions. PCB will consist of private and commercial banking, including Postbank, and wealth management. Deutsche Asset Management will be more operationally segregated with a minority stake traded on the public markets, assuming the planned IPO is successfully undertaken, while Deutsche Bank retains a majority stake.
Geographically, Germany will remain our anchor our home market where we intend not only to maintain, but to further expand our leading position in all three of our business divisions. PCB will be primarily focused in Germany, with wealth management businesses around the world. Given the global nature of our core corporate clients, we intend to retain CIB capabilities across Germany and EMEA (ex-Germany), the U.S. and Canada, and in Asia Pacific (APAC). While we intend to have a global institutional client footprint, we expect to be primarily focused on Germany and EMEA (ex-Germany) where our competitive franchise is strongest. We also intend to maintain a strong but more focused U.S. footprint. Deutsche AM intends to retain its core focus in Germany and EMEA (ex-Germany), with selective capabilities in the U.S. and APAC.
Fundamentally, we intend to retain our global capabilities, but plan to focus those capabilities where our management believes our franchise is the strongest, the growth potential the largest, and the potential risk adjusted returns the highest. Our management believes that the reorganization of the business divisions will be critical to achieve this.
Strategy in Corporate & Investment Bank
Our current CIB division primarily serves corporate clients, infrastructure and private equity, governments and financial institutions in treasury and financing solutions, leveraged lending, advisory and corporate finance (including debt and equity issuance), risk management and transaction banking.
The current Global Markets division operates alongside CIB and primarily serves large institutional clients (asset managers, pension funds, banks) in key capital markets areas including foreign exchange, rates, money markets, and credit. The two divisions currently work jointly to serve clients when appropriate.
We will merge the existing CIB and GM divisions into a new division to be called Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB). Based on a pro forma combination of net revenues for 2016, CIB would have had revenues of 16.8 billion and would have been the largest division in Deutsche Bank.
The combined CIB division is intended to promote a more seamless and aligned offering of products to clients, meaningfully enhance cross selling opportunities, ensure better client rationalization with resources being focused on higher return relationships, and achieve greater cost and asset efficiencies to drive improved returns. CIBs franchise is intended to be primarily a corporate-client led business, while retaining a focused institutional client business.
We believe there to be a substantial opportunity to capture market share from clients through the reorganized CIB. Currently, two-thirds of our large corporate clients in the newly combined CIB division have a relationship with just one part of CIB (markets, corporate finance or transaction banking). Integrating CIB and GM should support more efficient and seamless client coverage and product offering, better rationalization of clients and the ability to direct resources to the highest return relationships, and ultimately increase our share of clients wallet (amounts they spend on banking products).
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As part of the new focus of CIB, we will separately manage a portfolio of legacy assets within the division. These assets are both residual NCOU assets that were transferred to the relevant divisions at the beginning of 2017 and other assets deemed non-strategic, reflecting in part the result of the reshaping of GMs business portfolio (primarily derivatives in Rates and Credit). The legacy asset portfolio at year-end 2016 accounted for approximately 20 billion of RWA ( 36 billion including associated operational risk RWA), and approximately 60 billion of leverage exposure. We estimate that these legacy assets represent an approximate 200 basis point reduction of the return on equity of CIB per annum. While many of these legacy assets are long dated, we will seek to accelerate their wind down when economic to do so.
Over time, to improve its asset efficiency and returns, CIB expects that approximately 65 % of its RWA will be eventually deployed to support corporate clients (versus 55 % on the basis of a combined division at year-end 2016), and 35 % to institutional clients, excluding any remaining legacy asset portfolio. Despite the increased focus on corporate clients, Deutsche Bank remains committed to its institutional capabilities as they are critical to the success of CIB, and Deutsche Bank has no intention to exit any whole business lines offered in the current GM division.
CIB also intends to target further cost efficiencies. The combination of the current CIB and GM is intended to support accelerated front-to-back office optimization and the rationalization of support staff, which we expect to result in a reduction in CIBs adjusted costs by approximately 0.7 billion.
Through the above measures, and our strengthened capital position, our management believes that CIB will be better placed to grow globally and intends to pursue a number of objectives to achieve this:
| In Origination and Advisory, we intend to regain our number one position in EMEA as measured by revenues and to strengthen its franchise globally, with particular emphasis on deepening strategic client relationships to drive M&A and equity capital market mandates. Additionally, we intend to grow our leading debt capital markets franchise with an emphasis on Financial Institutions, and Sovereign, Supranational and Agency clients. |
| In Transaction Banking, we intend to continue to capitalize on the our top five position by improved cross selling of cash management on the back of our strong trade finance franchise and by continuing to drive improved cost income ratios through infrastructure investments. |
| In Financing, we intend to maintain our leading Credit Financing & Solutions franchise with particular emphasis in Asset Backed Securities, Commercial Real Estate, and the Transport, Infrastructure and Energy sector. |
| In Debt Sales & Trading, we intend to occupy a top-five position globally and a top-three position in EMEA. Of particular focus will be deepening strategic partnerships in Rates with insurance and pension clients and continuing to invest in cutting edge technology with the goal of becoming the top provider of foreign exchange payments and treasury solutions services. |
| In Equity Sales & Trading, we are targeting to be an international equity franchise ranked amongst the top ten competitors by reported revenues with leading Prime and Investment Solution platforms through enhancing our liquidity and collateral management product offerings, and selectively gaining share in equity trading and derivatives. |
Strategy in Private & Commercial Bank (PCB)
We have decided that we will retain Postbank and combine it with our existing German operations over the next three to five years. This is a shift from the prior strategy and reflects a number of evolving factors.
We believe that good opportunities exist in PCB in Germany despite the challenging environment from low interest rates and high competition. In particular, we believe that growth in small and midsized German corporate clients and private banking clients will continue. These two client segments represent a majority of the identified fee pool in Germany and both are client segments that we believe we are well positioned to serve. In the more standard retail banking segment where fee pools are expected to be flat, we will respond with continued efficiency efforts and market share gains through digitization.
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Additional factors that contributed to the decision to retain and integrate Postbank include:
| A lower targeted leverage ratio, which we initially set at 5 % when we announced our strategy in 2015. This reflects changes in the expected regulatory requirements and market expectations for leverage ratios of European banks. We have set 4.5 % as our new leverage ratio target. |
| The positive impact on the business model of retaining a large and stable business with a substantial deposit base. |
| Revised view on the possible degree of integration of Postbank and resulting scale and incremental synergies. |
| Future growth opportunities we have identified, reflecting both a potential improvement in the macroeconomic outlook, but more importantly the changing dynamics in private and commercial banking in Germany. The likelihood of eventual industry consolidation is growing in German retail banking as well as the continued positive opportunities presented by digitalization. |
The integration of Postbank will create Germanys largest private and commercial bank with over 20 million clients.
PCB intends to continue to operate with two distinct brands in Germany. By building one joint banking platform for all clients, the Deutsche Bank brand will remain focused on affluent, wealth management and commercial clients. Both franchises significantly improved their starting position in the last two years. Postbank, in particular, will offer a highly standardized and digitized banking service to retail clients. We expect our ongoing digital efforts not only to support efficiency goals, but also create an opportunity to gain market share among the Millennials client segment.
PCB intends to continue to execute its ongoing strategic initiatives including:
| Continued transformation of its private & commercial clients business, including cost reduction programs. |
| The current branch rationalization efforts (additional 180 branches are scheduled to close in Germany by the end of 2017). |
| Ongoing efforts to automate key processes and ongoing investment into digitalization. |
| Investment in and expansion of the wealth management business. |
In terms of products, PCB will focus on three key offerings: current account & transaction banking, lending products (which continue to serve as an anchor product) and distinct and tailor-made investment and insurance advice to our private clients. All of these come with a comprehensive digital offering as well as onsite branch advice to provide a full omni-channel banking experience.
A critical part of the PCB restructuring is the planned integration of Postbank. This integration is intended to more readily facilitate rationalization of central functions, improved efficiency across technology platforms and infrastructure and more efficient investment in areas including digitalization, distribution channels, and regulatory change.
We estimate that the planned restructuring in PCB will produce an estimated 0.9 billion of annual synergies by 2022. The total cost of the planned restructuring measures is estimated to be 1.9 billion, with restructuring and severance costs estimated to be approximately 1.0 billion by 2022 and the remainder related to IT and other costs. By the end of 2018 we expect to finalize the existing transformation programs, which we anticipate will result in cost reductions of 0.4 billion. PCB is targeting a cost income ratio of below 65 % following completion of this restructuring.
Strategy in Deutsche Asset Management
Deutsche AM is a core business for us that has generated stable income and relatively higher returns on equity than many other businesses by earning recurring, fee-based revenues. It has a market-leading position as the largest retail asset manager in Germany and the number four retail asset manager in Europe, the number two position in Europe and number six position globally in passive/ETFs, all based on publicly disclosed assets under management. Deutsche AM also has a strong track record in the Alternatives business, particularly in infrastructure.
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We believe that Deutsche AMs growth potential has been constrained by its full ownership by Deutsche Bank. Reputational issues in Deutsche Bank have affected Deutsche AM as did wider market concerns around our capital strength in late 2016. Additionally, resourcing limitations as we have pursued our restructuring efforts further constrained Deutsche AM.
Deutsche AMs growth prospects are rooted in core strengths of passive/ETFs and active multi-asset solutions as well as alternative investments, including real estate and infrastructure. We believe that allowing Deutsche AM to operate with more operational segregation can enhance its ability to pursue growth opportunities globally and gain market share.
We believe that Deutsche AM remains under-valued in the current corporate structure. We expect that a separate Deutsche AM operating company will permit its value to be enhanced over time while also positioning the business for future growth. An operationally segregated asset management business should also reduce the impact of any idiosyncratic impacts linked to the Deutsche Bank group, place the business on a more level competitive footing in the market, enhance its market profile, and make it easier for Deutsche AM to attract and retain talent through a separate compensation model with its own equity to fund and reward business growth.
We intend to sell a minority stake in Deutsche AM through an IPO. In preparation for this transaction, all asset management and supporting activity will be aligned to the Deutsche AM division. Going forward, the division is expected to have sufficient flexibility to better manage the resourcing and cost profile of the business and build a scale-efficient platform.
Deutsche AM has already completed its feasibility assessment of the separation alternatives and the target legal entity structure required to prepare the unit for an IPO. We intend to complete the IPO over the next 24 months, subject to market conditions.
Please see Management Report: Operating and Financial Review: Deutsche Bank Group: Corporate Divisions beginning on page 39 of the Annual Report 2016.
Competitor Landscape
The economic environment stabilized or improved in many countries during the course of 2016, despite the heightened political uncertainty we experienced in this period, which in particular reflected the outcome of the UK referendum on EU membership and the U.S. presidential election. Central banks of the major economies played a key role in this recovery by continuing to support the global economy through expansionary monetary policy.
The Eurozone economy surpassed its average annual growth rate since the inception of the Euro in 2016, driven by consumption and investment. This supported import growth, even as exports were weighted down as a result of some adverse developments in global trade. The monetary policy stance of the European Central Bank (ECB) continues to be highly expansionary, as reflected in negative interest rates and asset purchases ranging from 60 to 85 billion per month. In December 2016, the ECB extended this asset purchase program until the end of 2017, but with a reduction in purchases to a maximum volume of 60 billion per month, starting from April 2017. This implies a prolonged low interest rate environment in 2017, which creates a fundamental challenge for the European financial services sector.
The economic outlook for Europe as a whole also remains challenging. The upcoming elections and related political uncertainty may hold European growth back in the first six months of 2017. Assuming that further political risks do not materialize, Eurozone GDP growth is expected to accelerate in the second half of 2017 owing to a stronger U.S. economy,
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the fiscal stimulus, and the expansionary monetary policy of the ECB. We believe, however, that Brexit remains a threat to EU stability. The UK is on course to trigger Article 50 in March, which may result in some tense UK-EU negotiations for 15 to 18 months with a deadline of 24 months from the date of invoking Article 50. The outcome of the negotiations, or the potential consequences of lack an agreement at the end of the 24 month period, remains highly uncertain. This is likely to create significant volatility over the course of 2017, which firms need to consider in their strategic and financial plans.
In the U.S., economic growth in 2016 was the weakest since 2009. While solid private consumption supported economic growth, weak oil prices were a drag on the energy sector, and destocking and net trade dampened growth. The outlook for 2017 has improved following the U.S. presidential election, owing to the likelihood of economic stimulus from a combination of tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure investments. We believe such measures could increase growth strongly in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018. We expect two further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2017, following the 25 basis points increase in December 2016. This is expected to create growth opportunities for banks operating in the U.S. Additionally, there is continued uncertainty around the potential for changes in the U.S. regulatory rules under the Dodd-Frank Act, which the U.S. government is seeking to review. Market expectations indicate a possibility of lighter-touch banking regulation, but this is still in a very nascent stage.
In emerging markets, growth remained weak in 2016, but reached what we believe to be its cyclically lowest levels. We believe the prospects for the emerging markets will improve selectively in 2017 due to stronger global growth and better asset valuations. The uncertainty around U.S. foreign policy will likely create a fundamental divergence among emerging markets, which stand to benefit or lose from the new geo-political alliances and associated trade flows. This will have an impact on the fortunes of financial services competitors who have sizeable footprints in emerging markets.
In China, the moderate growth slowdown continued in 2016, and the prospects for increased economic growth remain uncertain. This has made forecasting difficult. The Chinese government faces a policy dilemma in 2017. China may be able to achieve its 6.5 % growth target by implementing strong fiscal easing in 2017, but this would require further credit expansion, which could reignite the risk of a property bubble and capital outflows. The Chinese government will likely continue to tighten capital controls. On the monetary policy front, we do not expect a rate cut in 2017, but the Peoples Bank of China may loosen credit supply to mitigate the slowdown in property sector.
In Japan, we expect that the economic recovery to continue in 2017, driven by private consumption and the modest support from the announced tax reform proposals.
Against this backdrop, Deutsche Bank competes in the financial services sector with a spectrum of competitors, who include other universal banks, commercial banks, savings banks, public sector banks, brokers and dealers, investment banking firms, asset management firms, private banks, investment advisors, payments services providers and insurance companies. Some of the competitors are global like Deutsche Bank, while others have a regional, product or niche client footprint. Deutsche Bank competes on a number of factors, including the quality of client relationships, transaction execution, products and services, innovation, reputation and price.
The European banking industry continues to be challenged by a number of factors. On the macroeconomic front, weak economic growth and a low rates environment continues to keep the Net Interest Margin under pressure. At the microeconomic level, several European banks have recently had to focus on resolving legacy litigation and run complex restructurings, while delivering on sizeable regulatory requirements. While good progress has been made on all these fronts, this has also led to management distractions and the loss of market share to U.S. competitors.
The uncertainty around the outcome and timing of key regulations also continues to complicate this picture. Looking forward, we believe that the European banking sector will continue to be challenged by the ongoing macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainty in 2017. Strategic flexibility and disciplined execution would be critical to respond to these challenges.
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In our home market, Germany, the retail banking market remains fragmented and our competitive environment is influenced by the three pillar system of private banks, public banks and cooperative banks. Competitive intensity has increased in recent years following some consolidation activity, particularly among public regional commercial banks (Landesbanken) and private banks, and increased activity levels from foreign players.
Looking at the wider banking ecosystem, the evolution of financial technology firms remains as much an opportunity as a challenge for banks. While we see the risk of banking disruption in select product areas, particularly the unregulated segments, there is also the opportunity to selectively partner with financial technology firms and leverage their solutions to become more efficient and/or develop differentiated delivery channels for the end clients.
Regulatory Reform
In the past year, key areas of the post-financial crisis G20 regulatory agenda strengthening international standards to create financially resilient institutions and ensuring resolvability of all banks have been finalized while others continue to be developed.
Overview
In 2016, elements of the core Basel 3 capital adequacy, liquidity and leverage requirements have been implemented or defined and are expected to be further implemented and defined in 2017 and beyond. In the European Union, the Capital Requirements Regulation and the Capital Requirements Directive (CRR/CRD 4), which implemented the Basel 3 framework, became effective on January 1, 2014, with some of the requirements, such as capital buffers, being phased in through 2019. In parallel, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) made progress on finalizing the Basel 3 framework, including changes to Standardized Approaches for credit, operational and market risk, as well as advancing work on capital floors.
In the United States, the U.S. implementation of the Basel 3 framework took effect on January 1, 2015 for Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation (DBTC), our U.S. bank holding company subsidiary. From July 1, 2016, the U.S. rules implementing the Basel 3 framework and related capital planning and stress testing requirements became applicable to DB USA Corporation, our U.S. intermediate holding company, which holds all of our U.S. non-branch operations that is, excluding Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch.
On November 23, 2016, following a routine review of the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package and other major legal acts in the area of banking regulation and supervision, the European Commission published a comprehensive package of reforms to further strengthen the resilience of European Union banks. If implemented, the proposals will amend, among other laws and regulations, CRR/CRD 4, in order to incorporate various remaining elements of the regulatory framework agreed within the Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to refine and supplement Basel 3, such as more risk-sensitive capital requirements, in particular in the area of market risk, counterparty credit risk, and for exposures to central counterparties, methodologies that reflect more accurately the actual risks to which banks may be exposed, a binding leverage ratio, a binding net stable funding ratio, tighter regulation of large exposures, and a requirement for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), such as Deutsche Bank, to hold certain minimum levels of capital and other instruments which are capable of bearing losses in resolution (Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity or TLAC). Other proposed measures are aimed at improving banks lending capacity to support the European Union economy and further facilitate the role of banks in achieving deeper and more liquid European Union capital markets. It is expected that most of the proposed amendments will start being applied in 2019 at the earliest.
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Regulation of the Securities and Derivatives Markets
2016 also saw progress in the regulation of the securities and derivatives markets. Given the global nature of these markets, a continuing key issue is the global cooperation and coordination of regulation and supervision. Important agreements were reached on cross-border harmonization, most notably the conclusion of an agreement between the European Commission (EC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the regulation of central counterparties (CCPs) that operate in the transatlantic market. At the same time, 2016 saw a major deviation from globally agreed approaches to the implementation of new rules, as the global timeline to commence margin requirements for non-cleared derivatives was not observed by key jurisdictions including the European Union, which deferred the application of the requirements to exchange initial and variation margins. By the first quarter of 2017, we expect commencement of margin requirements in the European Union and across the Asia Pacific, where most jurisdictions (save Japan) also deferred the application of their rules. Another key area of work at the global level in 2016 was efforts to develop more granular international standards relating to the recovery and resolution of CCPs and the publication of a legislative proposal on this issue in the European Union.
Structural Reform
In connection with the structural reform of banks, 2016 saw further regulatory developments. In Germany, work has continued to ensure that we will be compliant with the mid-2017 deadline for implementation of the German Act on the Separation of Risks and Recovery and Resolution Planning for Credit Institutions and Banking Groups (Trennbanken-gesetz, the Separation Act). The German Separation Act provides that deposit-taking banks and their affiliates are prohibited from engaging in proprietary trading that does not constitute a service for others, high-frequency trading (with the exception of market-making activities), and credit or guarantee transactions with hedge funds and comparable enterprises, unless such activities are transferred to a separate legal entity. At the European Union level, the EC published already in 2014 a proposal for a regulation on structural measures improving the resilience of European Union credit institutions. The proposal, if enacted, will impose measures similar to the Separation Act. The proposal is currently being negotiated at the European level and its ultimate impact on us will depend on the outcome of such negotiations.
Risk, Capital Floors, Leverage Ratio; Stress Testing
In the U.S., DBTC also participated for the second time in the Federal Reserve Boards Comprehensive Capital Adequacy Review (CCAR) process, an annual capital planning and stress testing exercise. At the international level, in January 2016 the BCBS published its final revised standards for market risk following the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book, or FRTB. The BCBS also published consultative documents on revising the standardized approach for credit risk, operational risk, constraining the use of internal models for credit risk, capital floors, and revisions to the leverage ratio. This package represents the finalization of the Basel 3 framework, and we expect final rules to be agreed and published in the first half of 2017. While the Basel FRTB standards are expected to enter into force in 2019, the timing on the remainder of the BCBS proposals is yet to be established. In July 2016, the BCBS published further changes to the capital standards for securitization exposures and in April 2016, the final standard to enhance Pillar 2 principles, and changes to the calculation of interest rate risk in the banking book (IRRBB). The changes contemplated by the FRTB and IRRBB are part of the EC proposals to change the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package published on November 23, 2016 (see above). This package furthermore includes proposals to implement the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk, Leverage Ratio, Large Exposures, Pillar III disclosures and the Net Stable Funding Ratio. We expect that the European Union and U.S. regulators will propose rules implementing the revisions to credit, operational risk and capital floors in 2018. These rules could well have phased-in implementation timelines. Full compliance with the European Union rules could be required at some point between 2020 and 2025. While the expected impacts on capital requirements of the proposed new standardized approaches have been factored into our strategy projections and objectives to the extent possible, their ultimate impact on us will depend on how they are implemented through binding legislation and regulation.
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Other Key Post-Crisis Reforms
Other key post-crisis reforms, while agreed in final standards and, in many cases, primary legislation, are still at an early stage of their phase-in or implementation, particularly where regulators have yet to develop detailed rules and regulations or determine their cross-border application. Thus, the impact of the implementation of such final standards and primary legislation on specific institutions remains uncertain. Examples of such post-crisis reforms include:
| Legislation for OTC derivatives clearing, reporting and margining has been enacted in the European Union and in the U.S. and some requirements are already in effect. While Canada, Japan and the U.S. complied with the globally agreed timeline to require large banks to exchange initial and variation margin for their uncleared trades from September 1, 2016, the European Union and jurisdictions across Asia-Pacific have deferred the application of such rules. We expect the cost for trading OTC derivatives across the market to increase as a result of the margin requirements as well as a rise in demand for high quality collateral. Margin rules will be phased in in Europe starting February 2017 and in most other deferred jurisdictions beginning in March 2017. While margin rules in the U.S. are already in effect for large banks, U.S. margin requirements will continue to be phased in for trades with other market participants through September 2020. Mandatory clearing of certain derivatives began in the EU and will continue to be phased in across 2017, and additional interest rate swaps will become subject to mandatory clearing in the U.S. in phases up to October 2018. The cross-border scope of certain requirements is still not fully resolved, with the CFTC proposing rules in October 2016 that would significantly expand the application of U.S. swap dealer registration requirements to swaps involving foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies. However, the CFTC did extend relief from certain transaction-level requirements for swaps between non-U.S. swap dealers and non-U.S. persons involving U.S. personnel until September 30, 2017. Progress continued on the cross-border recognition of CCPs with the recognition of major U.S.-domiciled CCPs by the EU in 2016, and it is expected that additional jurisdictions will be found equivalent in 2017. The issue of equivalence of trading venues for swaps, important for trading obligations in the U.S., EU and elsewhere, was not resolved in 2016 and is expected to be an important cross-border agenda item in 2017. In addition, market liquidity in certain mandated products could be damaged by a bifurcation of markets along jurisdictional lines. |
| A framework for the recovery and resolution of central counterparties (CCPs) is being developed at the international level. In 2016, the FSB and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published joint consultations to ensure that CCPs are resilient to market stress and have certain default management processes in place. On November 28, 2016, the EC released proposals to implement this framework in the European Union with an entry into force envisaged together with the proposals published on November 23, 2016 (see Overview). One of the elements to be determined is the extent to which clearing members resources can be called upon to support the recovery of a CCP in distress. |
| Updated European Union rules for market structure, pre- and post-trade transparency for equities, fixed income, currency and commodities transactions and investor protection through the (revised) Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2) and Regulation (MiFIR, together MiFID 2/MiFIR). MiFID 2/MiFIR will also introduce a trading obligation for those OTC derivatives which are subject to mandatory clearing and which are sufficiently standardized and liquid. Originally, most requirements introduced by MiFID 2/MiFIR were provided to be applicable to us starting on January 3, 2017. However, the application of MiFID 2/MiFIR has been formally delayed by one year to January 3, 2018. This notwithstanding, MiFID 2 needs to be transposed into national law by July 3, 2017. The updated MiFID 2/MiFIR will have a substantial impact on the way we trade with clients, transparency requirements, the willingness to deploy our risk capital and the way we distribute products. The final rules are now being published and 2017 will see considerable resources and effort dedicated to their implementation, much of which will depend on further implementation guidance to be published by EU authorities. |
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| Capital planning and stress testing will continue to be a focus in 2017. In 2016, DBTC submitted its second capital plan and related information to the Federal Reserve Board. Although the Federal Reserve Board objected to DBTCs capital plan on qualitative grounds, the Federal Reserve Board confirmed that DBTCs capital ratios would significantly exceed the quantitative minimum requirements even under the supervisors hypothetical severely adverse economic stress scenario. In 2017, we will file an initial capital plan for our intermediate holding company, DB USA Corporation, but DB USA Corporation will not become subject to the full CCAR process until 2018. At the EU level, the European Banking Authority (EBA) decided not to carry out an EU-wide stress test in 2017. Rather, it will perform its regular annual transparency exercise. At the international level, the BCBS has started working on global standards for stress testing as part of its work-plan. |
| Recovery and resolution the major jurisdictions where we have significant group operations finalized implementation of the FSBs Key Attributes for Effective Resolution Regimes. In particular, the European Union Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) was implemented in Germany and in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2015. The BRRD grants far-reaching powers to the competent resolution authorities to impose resolution measures upon failing banks. Such resolution measures may include a range of measures including the transfer of shares, assets or liabilities of the bank to another legal entity, the reduction, including to zero, of the nominal value of shares, the dilution of shareholders of a failing bank or the cancellation of shares outright, or the amendment, modification or variation of the terms of the banks outstanding debt instruments, for example by way of deferral of payments or a reduction of the applicable interest rate or the temporary suspension of termination rights. Furthermore, the principal amount of a banks capital instruments and certain eligible unsecured liabilities may be written down, including to zero, or converted into equity of the bank or a bridge institution (commonly referred to as bail-in). In addition, in January 2016, the European Union regulation (the SRM Regulation) establishing the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) for banks domiciled in European Union member states participating in the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) became fully effective and created a harmonized mechanism for the application of the BRRD under responsibility of a single European resolution authority (referred to as the Single Resolution Board or SRB). With the aim of ensuring cross-border group resolution of globally active banks, the BRRD and the SRM Regulation also contain rules regarding the cooperation with non-European Union member states and recognition of non-European Union resolution proceedings. A proposed update to the BRRD was published on November 23, 2016, in order to address some operational and legal issues and to facilitate the implementation into EU law of global standards relating to the creation of a requirement to maintain a certain minimum loss-absorbing capacity (see below). |
| Loss-absorbing capacity and MREL following the FSBs final term-sheet on minimum total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) in November 2015, several jurisdictions have started to implement the TLAC standard in their regulatory frameworks. The TLAC standard is designed to ensure that G-SIBs, such as Deutsche Bank, maintain enough capital and long-term debt instruments that can be effectively bailed-in to absorb losses and recapitalize the bank. Our TLAC requirements will be determined by the EU implementation of the FSBs TLAC standard. A corresponding proposal was put forward by the EC on November 23, 2016. Also, the EC published proposals to update the BRRD and the SRM Regulation to reflect the introduction of TLAC (applicable to G-SIBs) and to amend the existing provisions (applicable to all EU banks) to maintain a minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in order to accommodate these to the proposed TLAC standard. In addition, whereas several EU Member States (including Germany by way of the German Resolution Mechanism Act) have amended their national creditor hierarchies in insolvency proceedings to facilitate the expected implementation of the TLAC standard, the EC proposed an amendment to the BRRD aimed at harmonizing the creditor hierarchies for all EU banks, while respecting the currently existing national insolvency laws of the EU Member States (including their recent changes, if any). We also expect that we may be subject to internal TLAC requirements in other jurisdictions. For example, on December 15, 2016, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board finalized rules implementing the TLAC standard in the United States, with internal TLAC requirements that would apply to the U.S. intermediate holding companies (such as ours) of non-U.S. G-SIBs. Compliance with these rules, including a minimum Long Term Debt requirement and clean holding company requirements is required by January 1, 2019. |
| Measures to further harmonize legislation in the European Union, including revised European Union legislation on anti-money laundering, payment services and distribution of bank products, are also in the process of being developed. |
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Several regulatory proposals (including in connection with the implementation of existing laws) as discussed below are being contemplated which have not yet been finalized. Such proposals, depending on whether and in what form they become law, might have a material impact on our activities, balance sheet and profitability. To the extent possible, the impact of such proposals on us has been taken into account in our strategy projections and objectives. The proposals include:
| Further structural changes, as a result of the separation of certain business activities considered risky under the proposed European Union regulation on structural measures improving the resilience of European Union credit institutions or as a result of changes in the bank organization potentially required by the Single Resolution Board to ensure resolvability. |
| Additional direct costs as a result of financial sector specific tax and levies, for example the European Union enhanced cooperation financial transaction tax, which is still under negotiation, and possible changes to contributions to the Single Resolution Fund or other resolution financing arrangements. A proposal to create a Eurozone deposit insurance system is also still under negotiation in the EU. |
| Additional regulation of asset management activities, with new recommendations to be proposed at the international level following consultations conducted in 2016, such as the FSBs Proposed Policy Recommendations to Address Structural Vulnerabilities from Asset Management Activities of June 22, 2016, may also impact us, even though recommendations are expected to be consistent with existing requirements with which Deutsche Bank is complying. |
| Cyber-crime and cyber security, which will continue to be a focus for policymakers in 2017, with draft rules published in the U.S. in December and other jurisdictions potentially following suit. |
| Further measures to harmonize banking regulation and supervision in the European Union such as initiatives by the EBA and the ECB to reduce existing options and discretions and harmonize national supervisory practices under European Union legislation in connection with the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package such as ECBs TRIM project to reduce variance in internal model outcomes. |
Climate change, environmental and social issues
Many governments, corporations and investors are extending their focus on climate change, environmental and social issues by enacting legislation, changing business models, setting business operational policies, and changing investment decision making. In 2016, the Paris Agreement, an outcome of Conference of the Parties 21 (COP 21), was officially approved. Among other things, the agreement aims at making financial flows consistent with a pathway to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. Implementation of the agreement will require massive financing over the next quarter century, supported by systemic reforms towards a low-carbon economy. Like other sectors, financial institutions are exposed to climate change. Accordingly, we seek to demonstrate how we contribute to the mitigation of climate-related risks and support low-carbon solutions in our core businesses.
Projects and products that contribute to climate change or have other negative environmental or social impacts, as well as their financing and other services for these projects, are being reviewed critically by investors, customers, environmental authorities, non-governmental organizations and others. At Deutsche Bank, such a review is conducted based on the Environmental and Social Risk Policy Framework, which we have published on our corporate website in 2016. Where our own assessment of these issues so indicates, we may abstain from participating in such projects.
In response to the economic, social and environmental challenges our planet faces, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define global priorities and aspirations for 2030. On January 1, 2016, the worlds governments officially began implementation of this agenda at country level the transformative plan of action based on 17 goals to address urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. Private sector participation is needed to achieve the goals. We understand that the SDGs form a useful benchmark for corporations by defining and prioritizing the most urgent challenges for mankind to improve life worldwide. We expect that third-party views of us will increasingly depend on our contributions to the SDGs.
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Additionally, we see rising public scrutiny for non-state actors to uphold human rights in their activities. We follow the UN Guiding Principles that financial institutions, and the wider private sector, have a responsibility to respect human rights wherever they operate. Amidst global economic instability, policy uncertainty and flux within the financial sector, we need to take a proactive approach to collectively review and update processes, as an ongoing and formal part of daily business.
Overview
Our operations throughout the world are regulated and supervised by the relevant authorities in each of the jurisdictions where we conduct business. Such regulation relates to licensing, capital adequacy, liquidity, risk concentration, conduct of business as well as organizational and reporting requirements. It affects the type and scope of the business we conduct in a country and how we structure specific operations. In reaction to the crisis in the financial markets, the regulatory environment has undergone and is still undergoing significant changes.
In December 2010, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) proposed revised minimum capital adequacy and liquidity standards that were significantly more stringent than the then-existing requirements. The set of comprehensive changes to the capital adequacy framework published by the Basel Committee, known as Basel 3, was implemented into European Union law by a legislative package referred to as CRR/CRD 4. The CRR/CRD 4 legislative package includes a European Union regulation (which is referred to as the Capital Requirements Regulation or CRR) which is directly enforceable as law in every member state of the European Union, and a European Union directive (which is referred to as the Capital Requirements Directive or CRD 4), which has been implemented into national (in our case, German) law. CRR/CRD 4 contains, among other things, detailed rules on regulatory banking capital, increased capital requirements and the introduction of additional capital buffers, tightened liquidity standards and a non-risk based leverage ratio. Most of the new rules came into effect on January 1, 2014, with some of the regulatory requirements being gradually phased in through January 1, 2019.
On November 23, 2016, following a routine review of the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package and other major legal acts in the area of banking regulation and supervision, the European Commission published a comprehensive package of reforms to further strengthen the resilience of European Union banks. If implemented, the proposals will amend, among others, CRR/CRD 4, in order to incorporate various remaining elements of the regulatory framework agreed within the Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to refine and supplement Basel 3. This includes more risk-sensitive capital requirements, in particular in the area of market risk, counterparty credit risk, and for exposures to central counterparties, methodologies that reflect more accurately the actual risks to which banks may be exposed, a binding leverage ratio, a binding net stable funding ratio, tighter regulation of large exposures, and a requirement for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), such as us, to hold certain minimum levels of capital and other instruments which are capable of bearing losses in resolution (Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity or TLAC). Other proposed measures are aimed at improving banks lending capacity to support the European Union economy and further facilitate the role of banks in achieving deeper and more liquid European Union capital markets. It is expected that most of the proposed amendments will start being applied in 2019 at the earliest.
In addition to the continued implementation and refinement of the CRR/CRD 4 legislative package, the European Union is pursuing a deeper integration and harmonization of banking regulation and supervision by establishing a banking union. Currently, the banking union consists of two pillars, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for banks domiciled in the eurozone as well as for banks domiciled in other member states of the European Union that decide to participate in the SSM and the SRM. The banking union shall be complemented by a third pillar, a common European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), and is underpinned by an increasingly harmonized regulatory framework (the so-called single rulebook) for financial services in the European Union. While the SSM and the SRM have already become effective, the EDIS is currently debated among European Union member states, based upon a proposal of the European Commission published on November 24, 2015.
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Under the SSM, the European Central Bank (ECB) is the primary supervisor of significant credit institutions (such as us) and their banking affiliates in the relevant member states. The competent national authorities supervise the remaining, less significant banks under the oversight of the ECB. The SSM is based on a European Union regulation (referred to as the SSM Regulation) which is directly enforceable as law in every participating member state.
The SRM, which came into force on January 1, 2016, centralizes at a European level the key competences and resources for managing the failure (or likely failure) of any bank in the participating member states. Under the SRM, broad resolution powers with respect to banks domiciled in the participating member states are granted to the Single Resolution Board (SRB) as the central European resolution authority and to the competent national resolution authorities. Resolution powers in particular include the power to reduce, including to zero, the nominal value of shares, or to cancel shares outright, and to write down certain eligible subordinated and unsubordinated unsecured liabilities, including to zero, or convert them into equity (commonly referred to as bail-in). The SRB is also in charge of the Single Resolution Fund (SRF), a pool of money financed by the banking sector which is set up to ensure that medium-term funding support is available for purposes of restructuring banks under the SRM. The SRM is based on a European Union regulation (referred to as the SRM Regulation) which is directly enforceable as law in every participating member state and a European Union directive (referred to as the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive or BRRD) which has been implemented into national (in our case, German) law. The BRRD is also applicable to member states that do not participate in the SRM.
In February 2012, the European Commission established a High-level Expert Group chaired by Erkki Liikanen to examine possible reforms to the structure of the European Unions banking sector. In its final report of October 2, 2012 (the so-called Liikanen report), the expert group proposed, inter alia, a legal separation of certain particularly risky financial activities from deposit-taking banks within a banking group. Taking into account the recommendations of the Liikanen report, the German Federal Parliament, in 2013, adopted the German Act on the Separation of Risks and Recovery and Resolution Planning for Credit Institutions and Banking Groups (Trennbankengesetz, the Separation Act). Since July 1, 2016 (unless such period is extended, as it has been for us, to June 30, 2017), the Separation Act prohibits deposit-taking banks and their affiliates from engaging in certain activities unless these activities are transferred to a separate legal entity as further described below. Also based upon the Liikanen report, the European Commission published on January 29, 2014 a proposal which, if enacted, will impose measures similar to the Separation Act. The proposal is currently being negotiated at the European level and its ultimate impact on us will depend on the outcome of such negotiations.
Finally, as discussed below under Regulation and Supervision in the United States, in July 2013, U.S. federal bank regulators issued final rules implementing many elements of the Basel 3 framework and other U.S. capital reforms.
Further changes continue to be under consideration in the jurisdictions in which we operate. While the extent and nature of these changes cannot be predicted now, they may include a further increase in regulatory oversight and enhanced prudential standards relating to capital, liquidity, leverage, employee compensation, conduct of business, limitations on activities and other aspects of our operations that may have a material effect on our business and the services and products that we will be able to offer.
The following sections present a description of the regulation and supervision of our business by the authorities in Germany, our home market, in the contracting states to the European Economic Area, and in the U.S., which we view as the most significant markets for us. Beyond these regions, local country regulations generally have limited impact on our operations that are unconnected with these countries.
Regulation and Supervision in Germany Basic Principles
Deutsche Bank AG is authorized to conduct banking business and to provide financial services as set forth in the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz) and is subject to comprehensive regulation and supervision by the ECB, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) and the Deutsche Bundesbank (Bundesbank), the German central bank.
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As a significant credit institution within the meaning of the SSM Regulation, we are directly supervised by the ECB. With respect to us and other significant credit institutions, the ECB is the primary supervisor and is responsible for most tasks of prudential supervision, such as compliance with regulatory requirements set forth in CRR/CRD 4 concerning own funds, large exposure limits, leverage, liquidity, securitizations, corporate governance, business organization and risk management requirements. The ECB carries out its supervisory functions through a Joint Supervisory Team (JST) established for Deutsche Bank Group. The JST is led by the ECB and comprises staff from the ECB and national supervisory authorities, including the BaFin and the Bundesbank. In addition, and regardless of whether an institution is significant or not, the ECB is responsible for issuing new licenses to credit institutions and for assessing the acquisition and increase of significant participations (also referred to as qualifying holdings) in credit institutions established in those member states of the European Union that participate in the SSM and where notification of such changes must be filed.
The BaFin is our principal supervisor for regulatory matters with respect to which we are not supervised by the ECB. These include the rules on business conduct in the securities markets, in particular when providing securities services to clients, the regulation of anti-money laundering, terrorist financing and payment services, as well as certain special areas of bank regulation, such as those related to the issuance of covered bonds (Pfandbriefe) and the supervision of German home loan banks (Bausparkassen). Generally, the BaFin also supervises us with respect to those requirements under the German Banking Act that are not based upon European law. The Bundesbank supports the BaFin and the ECB and closely cooperates with them. The cooperation includes the ongoing review and evaluation of reports submitted by us and of our audit reports as well as assessments of the adequacy of our capital base and risk management systems. The ECB, the BaFin and the Bundesbank receive comprehensive information from us in order to monitor our compliance with applicable legal requirements and to obtain information on our financial condition. Generally, supervision by the ECB (together with the BaFin and the Bundesbank) applies on an unconsolidated basis (company only) and on a consolidated basis (the company and the entities consolidated with it for German regulatory purposes) (see Consolidated Regulation and Supervision below). However, banks forming part of a consolidated group may be allowed to waive the application of specific regulatory requirements on an unconsolidated basis if certain conditions are met. As of December 31, 2016, Deutsche Bank AG was allowed to waive the application of provisions on own funds (Part Two CRR), capital requirements (Part Three CRR), large exposures (Part Four CRR), exposures to transferred credit risk (Part Five CRR), leverage (Part Seven CRR) and disclosure by institutions (Part Eight CRR) as well as certain risk management requirements on a stand-alone basis.
The ECB and the BaFin have extensive supervisory and investigatory powers, including the ability to issue requests for information, to conduct regulatory investigations and on-site inspections, to impose monetary and other sanctions, to request the replacement of members of the banks management or supervisory board, or to repeal the license of a bank.
Banking Legislation
The German Banking Act and the CRR contain the principal rules for German banks, including the requirements for a banking license, and regulate the business activities of German banks. In particular, the German Banking Act requires that an enterprise that engages in one or more of the activities defined in the German Banking Act as banking business or financial services in Germany must be licensed as a credit institution (Kreditinstitut) or financial services institution (Finanzdienstleistungsinstitut), as the case may be. Deutsche Bank AG is licensed as a credit institution.
Significant parts of the regulatory framework for banks in the European Union are governed by the CRR. The CRR primarily sets forth the requirements applicable to us relating to regulatory capital, risk-based capital adequacy, monitoring and control of large exposures, consolidated supervision, leverage, liquidity and public disclosure. Certain other requirements applicable to us, including those with respect to capital buffers, organizational and risk management requirements, are set forth in the German Banking Act and other German laws, partly implementing European Union directives such as CRD 4.
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Furthermore, European banking regulation is to a large extent based on legislative and administrative acts at the European level with the purpose of implementing or complementing the rules contained in the so-called basic acts and to ensure a consistent application of European Union law by the relevant national supervisory authorities (so-called level 2 and 3 measures). Among these acts are delegated and implementing regulations enacted by the European Commission (level 2) as well as regulatory and technical standards, guidelines, recommendations and questions and answers (Q&A) developed and issued by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), in particular the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) (level 3).
Securities Trading Legislation
Under the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz), the BaFin regulates and supervises securities trading, including the provision of securities services, in Germany. The German Securities Trading Act contains, among other things, disclosure and transparency rules for issuers of securities that are listed on a German exchange and organizational requirements as well as rules of conduct which apply to all businesses that provide securities services. Securities services include, in particular, the purchase and sale of securities or derivatives for others and the intermediation of transactions in securities or derivatives and investment advice. The BaFin has broad powers to investigate businesses providing securities services to monitor their compliance with the organizational requirements, rules of conduct and reporting requirements. In addition, the German Securities Trading Act requires an independent auditor to perform an annual audit of the securities services providers compliance with its obligations under the German Securities Trading Act.
On July 3, 2016, a new legal regime on market abuse entered into force consisting of a directly applicable European Union regulation on market abuse (Market Abuse Regulation or MAR) and a European Union directive on criminal sanctions for market abuse (MAD) which has been implemented into national (in our case, German) law. The MAR establishes a common European Union framework for, inter alia, insider dealing, the public disclosure of inside information, market manipulation, and managers transactions. The German Securities Trading Act, which had contained rules on market abuse prior to the entering into force of the MAR, continues to supplement the MAR and, e.g., provides for sanctions in case of violations of the MAR.
The European Union has enacted several legislative proposals which result in further regulation of securities trading and the trading in derivatives in particular. Notably, the European Union adopted the European Regulation on OTC Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (EMIR), which became effective on August 16, 2012. EMIR introduced requirements for standardized over-the-counter derivatives to be centrally cleared and derivative transactions to be reported to trade repositories. EMIR also includes additional capital and margin requirements for non-cleared trades. While a number of the compliance requirements introduced by EMIR have come into effect, the ESAs (mainly the ESMA) are still in the process of finalizing certain implementing rules mandated by EMIR. Further legislative measures such as the overhauled Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2) and the new Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) and corresponding delegated legislation provide for, among other things, greater regulation and oversight by covering additional markets and instruments, extension of pre- and post-trade transparency rules from equities to all financial instruments, greater restrictions on operating trading platforms, and greater sanctioning powers. MiFID 2/MiFIR, which will be applicable as from January 3, 2018, will also introduce a trading obligation for those OTC derivatives which are subject to mandatory clearing and which are sufficiently standardized, and new investor protection rules which will significantly impact the way we distribute products. MiFID 2 will need to be implemented into national law, whereas MiFIR is a directly applicable European Union regulation.
Furthermore, European securities regulation is to a large extent based on technical standards, guidelines and recommendations developed by the ESMA.
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Capital Adequacy Requirements
Minimum Capital Adequacy Requirements (Pillar 1)
The minimum capital adequacy requirements for banks are primarily set forth in the CRR. The CRR requires German banks to maintain an adequate level of regulatory capital in relation to their risk positions. Risk positions (commonly referred to as risk-weighted assets) include credit risks, market risks and operational risks (including, among other things, risks related to certain external factors, as well as to technical errors and errors of employees). The most important type of capital for compliance with the capital requirements under the CRR (see below) is Common Equity Tier 1 capital. Common Equity Tier 1 capital primarily consists of share capital, retained earnings and other reserves, subject to certain regulatory adjustments. Another component of regulatory capital is Additional Tier 1 capital which includes, for example, certain unsecured subordinated perpetual capital instruments and related share premium accounts. Generally, the terms and conditions of all instruments recognized as Additional Tier 1 capital must require that the principal amount of the instruments will be written down, or converted into Common Equity Tier 1 capital when the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the financial institution falls below a minimum of 5.125 % (or such higher level as the issuing bank may determine), although regulators may require an earlier conversion, for example for stress-testing purposes. Common Equity Tier 1 capital and Additional Tier 1 capital together constitute Tier 1 capital. Tier 1 capital requirements are aimed at ensuring the ability to absorb losses on a going concern basis. The other type of regulatory capital is Tier 2 capital which generally consists of long-term subordinated debt instruments and must be able to absorb losses on a gone concern basis. Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital together constitute own funds. Pursuant to the CRR, hybrid capital instruments that qualified as Tier 1 or Tier 2 capital under what is known as Basel 2.5 cease to qualify as such and will be gradually phased out through the end of 2021. Tier 3 capital is no longer recognized as own funds under the CRR. In addition, the CRR tightened the regime for certain deductions from capital.
Under the CRR, banks are required to maintain a minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of 6 % and a minimum ratio of Common Equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of 4.5 %. The minimum total capital ratio of own funds to risk-weighted assets is 8 %.
Capital Buffers
The German Banking Act also requires banks to build up a mandatory capital conservation buffer (Common Equity Tier 1 capital amounting to 2.5 % of risk-weighted assets), and authorizes the BaFin to set a domestic counter-cyclical capital buffer for Germany (Common Equity Tier 1 capital of generally 0 % to 2.5 % of risk-weighted assets, or more in particular circumstances) during periods of high credit growth. In order to comply with the countercyclical capital buffer requirement, banks must calculate their institution-specific countercyclical capital buffer as the weighted average of the countercyclical capital buffers that apply to them in the jurisdictions where their relevant credit exposures are located. Accordingly, the total countercyclical buffer requirement (if any) that we need to comply with also depends on the corresponding buffer requirements in other jurisdictions. In addition, the BaFin may require banks to build up a systemic risk buffer (Common Equity Tier 1 capital of between 1 % and 3 % of risk-weighted assets for all exposures and in exceptional cases up to 5 % for domestic and third-country exposures) to prevent and mitigate long term non-cyclical systemic or macro-prudential risks not otherwise covered by CRR/CRD 4. G-SIBs (such as us) are subject to an additional capital buffer (Common Equity Tier 1 capital of between 1 % and 3.5 % of risk-weighted assets), which the BaFin determines for German banks based on a scoring system measuring the banks global systemic importance. The BaFin can also determine a capital buffer of Common Equity Tier 1 capital of up to 2 % of risk-weighted assets for other systemically important banks (so-called O-SIIs, such as us) in Germany, based on criteria measuring, among others, the banks importance for the economy in Germany and the European Economic Area. The provisions in the German Banking Act on capital buffers are generally being phased in gradually through January 1, 2019. The systemic risk buffer, the buffers for G-SIBs and the buffer for O-SIIs are generally not cumulative; only the highest of these buffers applies. If a bank fails to build up the required capital buffers, it will be subject to restrictions on the pay-out of dividends, share buybacks and discretionary compensation payments. Also, the ECB may require banks to maintain higher capital buffers than those required by the BaFin.
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The Basel 3 framework also proposes a non-risk based leverage ratio as a complement to the risk-based capital requirements. While the CRR, as currently in effect, does not require banks to comply with a specific leverage ratio, banks are required to report and publish their leverage ratios for a future assessment and calibration of the leverage ratio. Among the package of reforms published by the European Commission on November 23, 2016 (see Overview above) is a proposal to introduce a binding minimum leverage ratio requirement of 3 % of Tier 1 capital into the CRR.
Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process or SREP (Pillar 2)
Furthermore, the ECB may impose capital requirements on individual significant credit institutions within the SSM which are more stringent than the statutory minimum requirements set forth in the CRR, the German Banking Act or the related regulations. In this context, in December 2014, the EBA published its final guidelines for common procedures and methodologies for the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP). In connection with the SREP, competent supervisory authorities, including the ECB, are required to review the arrangements, strategies, processes and mechanisms of supervised banks on a regular basis, in order to evaluate risks to which they are or might be exposed, risks they could pose to the financial system, and risks revealed by stress testing, taking into account the nature, scale and complexity of their activities. At the end of the process, the competent supervisory authority takes an SREP decision in relation to each relevant bank setting out, depending on the outcome of the SREP, specific capital and liquidity requirements for each affected bank. Any additional bank-specific capital requirements resulting from the SREP are referred to as Pillar 2 requirements and must be fulfilled in addition to the statutory minimum capital and buffer requirements. The Pillar 2 requirement must be met with Common Equity Tier 1 capital. Also following the SREP, the ECB may communicate to individual banks an expectation to hold a further Pillar 2 Common Equity Tier 1 capital add-on, the so-called Pillar 2 guidance. The ECB has stated that it expects banks to meet the Pillar 2 guidance although it is not legally binding and failure to meet the Pillar 2 guidance does not automatically trigger legal action. Finally, also based on the outcome of the SREP, the competent supervisory authority may take a range of other measures in response to shortcomings in a banks governance and risk management processes as well as its capital or liquidity position, such as prohibiting dividend payments to shareholders or distributions to holders of regulatory capital instruments.
For details of Deutsche Banks regulatory capital, see Management Report: Risk Report: Risk and Capital Performance on pages 136 through 198 of our Annual Report 2016.
Limitations on Large Exposures
The CRR also contains the primary restrictions on large exposures, which limit a banks concentration of credit risks. The German Banking Act and the Large Exposure Regulation (Großkredit- und Millionenkreditverordnung) supplement the CRR. For example, the Large Exposure Regulation sets forth exemptions (in addition to those contained in the CRR) from the applicability of limits to large exposures. Under the CRR, our exposure to a customer (and any customers affiliated with it) is deemed to be a large exposure when the value of such exposure is equal to or exceeds 10 % of our eligible regulatory capital. All exposures to a single customer (and customers affiliated with it) are aggregated for these purposes. In general, no large exposure may exceed 25 % of our eligible regulatory capital. Eligible regulatory capital for this purpose means the sum of Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital which may not exceed one third of Tier 1 capital. If the customer is a credit institution or investment firm, the exposure is limited to the higher of 25 % of our eligible regulatory capital or 150 million. Competent authorities may set a lower limit than 150 million. Among the package of reforms published by the European Commission on November 23, 2016 (see Overview above), is a proposal to restrict a banks exposures to a single counterparty to 25 % of its Tier 1 capital (instead of 25 % of the sum of its Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital) and further limit exposures between banks designated as G-SIBs (such as us) to 15 % of Tier 1 capital.
Under certain conditions, the limits to large exposures may be exceeded by the exposures on the banks trading book. In this case, the bank must meet an additional own funds requirement.
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Consolidated Regulation and Supervision
Deutsche Bank AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the parent institution of the Deutsche Bank Group of institutions (the regulatory group), which is subject to the supervisory provisions of the German Banking Act and the CRR. Generally, a regulatory group of institutions (Institutsgruppe) consists of an institution (meaning a credit institution or an investment firm within the meaning of the CRR that is responsible for the consolidation of the group) as the parent company, and all other institutions, financial institutions (comprising inter alia financial holding companies, payment institutions and asset management companies) and ancillary services undertakings that are the parent companys subsidiaries as defined in the CRR. The provisions of the German Banking Act and the CRR on consolidated supervision require that a regulatory group of institutions taken as a whole complies with the requirements on capital adequacy, limitations on large exposures as well as organizational, risk management and other prudential requirements under the CRR and the German Banking Act. The ECB is responsible for our supervision on a consolidated basis.
Financial groups which offer services and products in various financial sectors (banking and securities business, insurance and reinsurance business) are subject to supplementary supervision as a financial conglomerate (Finanz-konglomerat) once certain thresholds have been exceeded. Supervision of financial conglomerates comprises requirements regarding own funds, risk concentration, risk management, transactions within the conglomerate and organizational matters. In November 2007, the BaFin designated Deutsche Bank Group as a financial conglomerate. Therefore, we are required to comply with and report capital adequacy requirements and risk concentrations also on a conglomerate level. In addition, we are required to report significant conglomerate internal transactions as well as significant risk concentrations. Our supervision at the conglomerate level is coordinated by the ECB. Following a reorganization of the insurance sector within our financial conglomerate in 2016, including a sale of the most material insurance entity Abbey Life Assurance Company Limited with effect from December 30, 2016, we have initiated a re-assessment of our status as a financial conglomerate.
Liquidity Requirements
The CRR introduced a new liquidity coverage requirement intended to ensure that banks have an adequate stock of unencumbered high quality liquid assets that can be easily and quickly converted into cash to meet their liquidity needs for a 30-calendar day liquidity stress scenario. The required liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) is calculated as the ratio of a banks liquidity buffer to its net liquidity outflows. Also, banks must regularly report the composition of the liquid assets in their liquidity buffer to their competent authorities. The liquidity coverage requirement is being gradually phased in through January 1, 2018, with a minimum required level of liquidity of 80 % in 2017 which will be increased to 100 % in 2018. Details on the liquidity coverage requirement have been set forth by the European Commission in implementing legislation, which became applicable on October 1, 2015. The ECB supervises our compliance with the liquidity coverage requirement under the CRR and the corresponding implementing legislation.
In addition, Basel 3 contains a proposal to introduce a net stable funding ratio (NSFR) to reduce medium- to long-term funding risks by requiring banks to fund their activities with sufficiently stable sources of funding over a one-year period. The CRR contains interim reporting requirements on stable funding but does not yet include substantive provisions relating to the NSFR. Among the package of reforms published by the European Commission on November 23, 2016 (see Overview above) is a proposal to introduce a binding NSFR into the CRR. According to this proposal, the NSFR is defined as the ratio of a banks available stable funding relative to the amount of required stable funding over a one-year period. According to the proposal, banks must maintain an NSFR of at least 100 %.
National liquidity requirements under the German Banking Act and the German Liquidity Regulation (Liquiditäts-verordnung) will continue to be applicable to us until the full introduction of the liquidity coverage requirement at the European level on January 1, 2018. The German Banking Act generally requires banks and certain financial services
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institutions to invest their funds so as to maintain adequate liquidity at all times. The German Liquidity Regulation provides for minimum liquidity requirements based upon a comparison of the remaining terms of certain assets and liabilities. It requires maintenance of a ratio (Liquiditätskennzahl or liquidity ratio) of liquid assets to liquidity reductions expected during the month following the date on which the ratio is determined of at least one. The German Liquidity Regulation also allows banks and financial services institutions subject to it to use their own methodology and procedures to measure and manage liquidity risk if the BaFin has approved such methodology and procedures. The liquidity ratio (and estimated liquidity ratios for the next eleven months) must be reported to the Bundesbank on a monthly basis.
The ECB and the BaFin may impose on individual banks liquidity requirements which are more stringent than the general statutory requirements if such banks continuous liquidity would otherwise not be ensured.
Financial Statements and Audits
As required by the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch), we prepare our non-consolidated financial statements in accordance with German GAAP. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and our compliance with capital adequacy requirements and large exposure limits is determined solely based upon such consolidated financial statements.
Under German law, we are required to be audited annually by a certified public accountant (Wirtschaftsprüfer). The Banks auditor is appointed each year at the annual shareholders meeting. However, the supervisory board mandates the auditor and supervises the audit. The BaFin must be informed of and may reject the auditors appointment. The German Banking Act requires that a banks auditor inform the BaFin of any facts that come to the auditors attention which would lead it to refuse to certify or to limit its certification of the banks annual financial statements or which would adversely affect the banks financial position. The auditor is also required to notify the BaFin in the event of a material breach by management of the articles of association or of any other applicable law. The auditor is required to prepare a detailed and comprehensive annual audit report (Prüfungsbericht) for submission to the banks supervisory board, the BaFin and the Bundesbank. The BaFin and the Bundesbank share their information with the ECB.
Investigative and Enforcement Powers
Investigations and Supervisory Audits
The ECB and the BaFin may conduct audits of banks on a random basis, as well as for cause. In particular, the ECB may audit our compliance with requirements with respect to which it supervises us, such as those set forth in CRR/CRD 4. The BaFin may also decide to audit our compliance with requirements with respect to which it supervises us, such as those relating to business conduct in the securities markets and the regulation of anti-money laundering, to counter terrorist financing and payment services, as well as certain special areas of bank regulation, such as those related to the issuance of covered bonds (Pfandbriefe) and the supervision of German home loan banks (Bausparkassen).
The ECB as well as the BaFin may require a bank to furnish information and documents in order to ensure that the bank is complying with applicable bank supervisory laws. The ECB and the BaFin may conduct investigations without having to state a reason therefor. Such investigations may also take place at a foreign entity that is part of a banks group for regulatory purposes. Investigations of foreign entities are limited to the extent that the law of the jurisdiction where the entity is located restricts such investigations.
The ECB and the BaFin may attend meetings of a banks supervisory board and shareholders meetings. They also have the authority to require that such meetings be convened.
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Supervisory and Enforcement Powers
The ECB has a wide range of enforcement powers in the event it discovers any irregularities concerning adherence to requirements with respect to which it supervises us. It may, for example,
| impose additional own funds or liquidity requirements in excess of statutory minimum requirements; |
| restrict or limit a banks business; |
| require the cessation of activities to reduce risk; |
| require a bank to use net profits to strengthen its own funds; |
| restrict or prohibit dividend payments to shareholders or distributions to holders of Additional Tier 1 instruments; or |
| remove the members of the banks management or supervisory board members from office. |
To the extent necessary to carry out the tasks granted to it, the ECB may also require national supervisory authorities to make use of their powers under national law. If these measures are inadequate, the ECB may revoke the banks license. Furthermore, the ECB has the power to impose administrative penalties in case of breaches of directly applicable European Union laws, such as the CRR, or of applicable ECB regulations and decisions. Penalties imposed by the ECB may amount to up to twice the amount of profits gained or losses avoided because of the violation, or up to 10 % of the total annual turnover of the relevant entity in the preceding business year or such other amounts as may be provided for in relevant European Union law. In addition, where necessary to carry out the tasks granted to it, the ECB may also require that the BaFin initiate proceedings to ensure that appropriate penalties are imposed on the affected bank.
The BaFin also retains a wide range of enforcement powers. As discussed above, it may take action if instructed by the ECB in connection with supervisory tasks granted to the ECB. With respect to supervisory tasks remaining with the BaFin, the BaFin may take action upon its own initiative. In particular, if a bank is in danger of defaulting on its obligations to creditors, the BaFin may take emergency measures to avert default. These emergency measures may include:
| issuing instructions relating to the management of the bank; |
| prohibiting the acceptance of deposits and the extension of credit; |
| prohibiting or restricting the banks managers from carrying on their functions; |
| prohibiting payments and disposals of assets; |
| closing the banks customer services; and |
| prohibiting the bank from accepting any payments other than payments of debts owed to the bank. |
The BaFin may also impose administrative pecuniary penalties under the German Banking Act and other German laws. Penalties under the German Banking Act may amount to generally up to 5 million or, in certain cases, 20 million, depending of the type of offense. If the economic benefit derived from the offense is higher, the BaFin may impose penalties of up to 10 % of the net turnover of the preceding business year or twice the amount of the economic benefit derived from the violation.
Finally, violations of the German Banking Act may result in criminal penalties against the members of the Management Board or senior management.
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Recovery and Resolution Planning, Restructuring Powers
Germany participates in the SRM, which centralizes at a European level the key competences and resources for managing the failure of banks in member states of the European Union participating in the banking union. The SRM is based on the SRM Regulation and the BRRD, which was implemented in Germany through the German Recovery and Resolution Act (Sanierungs- und Abwicklungsgesetz, SAG). In addition, the German Resolution Mechanism Act (Abwicklungsmechanismusgesetz) adapted German bank resolution laws to the SRM. The SRM Regulation and the German Recovery and Resolution Act require the preparation of recovery and resolution plans for banks and grant broad powers to public authorities to intervene in a bank which is failing or likely to fail. For a bank directly supervised by the ECB, such as us, the SRB draws up the resolution plan, assesses the banks resolvability and may require legal and operational changes to the banks structure to ensure its resolvability.
In the event that a bank is failing or likely to fail and certain other conditions are met, in particular where there is no reasonable prospect that any alternative private sector measures would prevent the failure and resolution measures are necessary in the public interest, the SRB is responsible for adopting a resolution scheme for resolving the bank pursuant to the SRM Regulation. The European Commission and, to a lesser extent, the Council of the European Union, have a role in endorsing or objecting to the resolution scheme proposed by the SRB. The resolution scheme would be addressed to and implemented by the competent national resolution authorities (in Germany: the Federal Agency for Financial Market Stabilization, FMSA).
Resolution measures that could be imposed upon a failing bank may include a range of measures including the transfer of shares, assets or liabilities of the bank to another legal entity, the reduction, including to zero, of the nominal value of shares, the dilution of shareholders of a failing bank or the cancellation of shares outright, or the amendment, modification or variation of the terms of the banks outstanding debt instruments, for example by way of deferral of payments or a reduction of the applicable interest rate. Furthermore, certain eligible unsecured liabilities, in particular certain senior unsecured debt instruments specified by the German Resolution Act, as amended by the German Resolution Mechanism Act, may be written down, including to zero, or converted into equity (commonly referred to as bail-in). In addition, the SRB is charged with administering the SRF, a pool of money which is financed by bank levies raised at national level and is intended to reach a target level of 1 % of insured deposits of all banks in member states participating in the SRM by the end of 2023. It will be used for resolving failing banks after other options, such as the bail-in tool, have been exhausted. In line with the German Recovery and Resolution Act, public financial support for a failing bank should only be used as a last resort, after having assessed and exploited, to the maximum extent possible, resolution measures set forth in the SRM Regulation and the German Recovery and Resolution Act, including the bail-in tool.
To prevent banks from structuring their liabilities in a way that impedes the effectiveness of the bail-in or other resolution tools, the SRM Regulation and the German Recovery and Resolution Act, implementing the BRRD, introduced a requirement for banks to meet minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The MREL is to be determined by the competent resolution authorities for each supervised bank individually. MREL applies to all banks across the European Union. In addition, on November 9, 2015, the FSB published a similar new standard applicable to all G-SIBs (and not only European G-SIBs), such as us, to meet a new minimum requirement for TLAC as from January 1, 2019. The FSB has proposed that competent authorities determine a firm-specific minimum TLAC requirement for each G-SIB of at least 16 % of risk-weighted assets as from January 1, 2019, rising to at least 18 % from January 1, 2022. In addition, the FSB has proposed that minimum TLAC must be at least 6 % of the Basel 3 leverage ratio denominator from January 1, 2019, rising to at least 6.75 % of the Basel 3 leverage ratio denominator from January 1, 2022. Among the package of reforms published by the European Commission on November 23, 2016 (see Overview above) is a proposal to implement the FSBs TLAC proposal in the European Union and harmonize it with MREL through amendments to CRR/CRD 4, the BRRD and the SRM Regulation. The ultimate impact of any TLAC requirements on us will depend on how the proposals will be implemented into binding legislation.
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Furthermore, under the German Resolution Act, as amended by the German Resolution Mechanism Act, obligations of banks resulting from specifically defined senior unsecured debt instruments issued by them (such as bank bonds) would, in an insolvency proceeding of the issuing bank, rank junior to all other outstanding unsecured unsubordinated obligations of such bank (such as certain structured products), without technically constituting subordinated debt, but continue to rank in priority to contractually or statutorily subordinated debt instruments. Correspondingly, such senior unsecured debt instruments, in a resolution proceeding, would be bailed in prior to any other unsubordinated debt, but only after contractually or otherwise subordinated debt. This order of priority applies to insolvency proceedings commenced, and resolution measures imposed upon the relevant bank, on or after January 1, 2017, and applies to all instruments then outstanding. Among the package of reforms published by the European Commission on November 23, 2016 (see Overview above) is a proposal to harmonize national rules on the priority of claims of banks creditors in the European Union by requiring member states to create a new asset class of non-preferred senior debt that should be affected by a bail-in during resolution after other regulatory capital instruments, but prior to other unsubordinated liabilities. The ultimate impact on us will depend on how the proposal will be implemented into binding legislation.
Finally, in addition to resolution proceedings under the SRM and the German Recovery and Resolution Act, a German bank can become subject to a stabilization plan or reorganization proceedings under the German Credit Institution Reorganization Act (Gesetz zur Reorganisation von Kreditinstituten).
Separation of Proprietary Trading Activities by Universal Banks
The German Separation Act provides that deposit-taking banks and their affiliates are prohibited from engaging in proprietary trading that does not constitute a service for others, high-frequency trading (with the exception of market-making activities), and credit or guarantee transactions with hedge funds and comparable enterprises, unless such activities are transferred to a separate legal entity (referred to as a financial trading institution (Finanzhandelsinstitut)). The separation requirement applies if certain thresholds are exceeded, which is the case for us. In addition, the German Separation Act authorizes the BaFin, since July 1, 2016, to prohibit the deposit-taking bank and its affiliates, on a case-by-case basis, from engaging in market-making and other activities that are comparable to the activities prohibited by law, if these activities may put the solvency of the deposit-taking bank or any of its affiliates at risk. In the event that the BaFin orders such a prohibition, the respective activities must be discontinued or transferred to a separate financial trading institution. The financial trading institution may be established in the form of an investment firm or a bank and may be part of the same group as the deposit-taking bank. However, it must be economically and organizationally independent from the deposit-taking bank and its (other) affiliates, and it has to comply with enhanced risk management requirements. The prohibition for deposit-taking banks and their affiliates to conduct activities associated with increased risks became effective on July 1, 2015, with a further transitional period of twelve months to accomplish the separation requirement, unless the BaFin extends this period. For Deutsche Bank Group, the period to cease or transfer activities concerned was extended by the BaFin until June 30, 2017 (see Overview above). The implementation of the German Separation Act will require ongoing surveillance of the activities of banks within the scope of the legislation and assessment of compliance and control frameworks to ensure that no prohibited activities are conducted. We are currently in the process of implementing the necessary controls to be compliant with the law as of July 1, 2017.
On January 29, 2014, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on structural measures improving the resilience of European Union credit institutions (referred to as Proposed Regulation), which if enacted, will impose measures similar to the German Separation Act. The Proposed Regulation would apply to large banks which are either identified as G-SIBs (such as us), or whose total assets and trading activities exceed certain thresholds (which we exceed). If the Proposed Regulation were enacted as proposed, it would, inter alia, ban proprietary trading in financial instruments and commodities. On June 19, 2015, the Council of the European Union agreed its position at first reading on the Proposed Regulation, which contains significant amendments to the Proposed Regulation. If adopted, the Proposed Regulation might overrule certain requirements set out in the German Separation Act at the national level. The ultimate impact on us of the Proposed Regulation will depend on the content of the final version thereof.
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Remuneration Rules
Under the German Banking Act and the German Credit Institution Remuneration Regulation (Institutsvergütungs-verordnung), we are subject to certain restrictions on the remuneration we pay our management board members and employees. The remuneration rules have been revised on the basis of the CRR/CRD 4 framework which imposes a cap on bonuses. Pursuant to this cap, the variable remuneration for management board members and employees must not exceed the fixed remuneration. The variable remuneration may be increased to twice the management board members or employees fixed remuneration if expressly approved by the shareholders meeting with the required majority. In addition, we are obliged to identify individuals who have a material impact on our risk profile (material risk takers). Such material risk takers are subject to additional rules, such as the requirement that between 40 % and 60 % of the variable remuneration granted to them must be on a deferred basis. The deferral period must be at least three to five years. Also at least 50 % of the variable remuneration for material risk takers must be paid in the form of instruments that adequately reflect the credit quality of the bank, such as shares or instruments linked to shares. Finally, we are required to comply with certain disclosure requirements relating to the remuneration we pay to, and our remuneration principles in respect of, our material risk takers and other affected employees.
For details of Deutsche Banks remuneration system, see Management Report: Compensation Report on pages 199 through 249 of our Annual Report 2016.
Deposit Protection and Investor Compensation in Germany
The Deposit Protection Act and the Investor Compensation Act
The German Deposit Protection Act (Einlagensicherungsgesetz) and the German Investor Compensation Act (Anlegerentschädigungsgesetz) provide for a mandatory deposit protection and investor compensation system in Germany, based on a European Union directive on deposit guarantee schemes (DGS Directive), recast in 2014, and a European Union directive on investor compensation schemes.
The German Deposit Protection Act requires that each German bank participates in one of the statutory government-controlled deposit protection schemes (Entschädigungseinrichtungen). Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken GmbH acts as the deposit protection scheme for private sector banks such as us, collects and administers the contributions of the member banks, and settles any compensation claims of depositors in accordance with the German Deposit Protection Act.
Under the German Deposit Protection Act, deposit protection schemes are liable for obligations resulting from deposits denominated in any currency in an amount of up to 100,000 per depositor and bank. In addition, deposits made in connection with particular life events (such as the sale of private residential properties, marriage or severance payments) are protected up to an amount of 500,000 for a period of six months after the amount has been deposited or become transferable. Deposit protection schemes are not liable for liabilities the existence of which can be proven only by financial instruments such as transferable securities that are not repayable at par or the principal of which is repayable at par only under a particular guarantee or agreement provided by the bank or a third party. Deposits by certain entities, such as banks, financial institutions (Finanzinstitute), insurance companies, investment funds, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German federal states and municipalities, as well as liabilities arising from own acceptances (eigene Akzepte) and sola bills (Solawechsel) are not protected.
The deposit protection scheme must repay insured deposits in euro within seven working days after the BaFin has ascertained a compensation case for the bank concerned and without the requirement for depositors to specifically apply for repayment, except where they claim to be insured above the level of 100,000 in connection with specific life events.
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Deposit protection schemes are financed by annual contributions of the participating banks. They must have available financial means proportionate to their potential liabilities and must reach a target level of such means of 0.8 % of the total covered deposits of their participating banks by July 3, 2024. The financial means must be contributed by the banks participating in the deposit protection scheme. The amount of contributions of each bank will be based upon the amount of its covered deposits and the degree of risk the bank is exposed to. Deposit protection schemes may also levy special contributions if required to settle compensation claims. There is no absolute limit on such special contributions.
Deposit protection schemes will be required to contribute to bank resolution costs where resolution tools are used. The contribution made by the deposit protection scheme is limited to the compensation it would have to pay if the affected bank had become subject to insolvency proceedings. Furthermore, deposit protection schemes under certain circumstances may provide funding to its participating banks to avoid their failure.
Under the German Investor Compensation Act, in the event that the BaFin ascertains a compensation case, Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken GmbH as our deposit protection scheme is also required to compensate 90 % of any creditors aggregate claims arising from securities transactions denominated in euro or in a currency of any other European Union member state up to an amount of the equivalent of 20,000. Claims arising from securities transactions include claims of securities account holders for the return of instruments owned by, and held or deposited for them in connection with securities transactions. Claims arising from securities transactions of certain entities, such as banks, financial institutions (Finanzinstitute), insurance companies, investment funds, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German federal states, municipalities and medium-sized and large corporations, are not protected.
European Deposit Insurance Scheme
On November 24, 2015, the European Commission proposed a regulation to establish a European Deposit Insurance Scheme, or EDIS for bank deposits of all credit institutions which are members of any of the current national statutory deposit guarantee schemes of member states participating in the banking union (see Overview above). The Commissions proposal envisages a progressive integration of existing national deposit guarantee schemes in three stages, from a re-insurance of national deposit guarantee schemes, to a co-insurance system, and then to the final stage, which would be reached in 2024, when EDIS would fully insure all relevant national deposit guarantee schemes in case of a bank failure. EDIS would be administered by the SRB in all stages jointly with participating national deposit guarantee schemes or, where a deposit guarantee scheme does not administer itself, by the national designated authority responsible for administering the respective participating deposit guarantee scheme. The proposal is currently being negotiated at the European Union level and the ultimate impact on us is uncertain.
Voluntary Deposit Protection System
Liabilities to creditors that are not covered by a statutory compensation scheme may be covered by one of the various protection funds set up by the banking industry on a voluntary basis. We take part in the Deposit Protection Fund (Einlagensicherungsfonds) set up by the Association of German Banks (Bundesverband deutscher Banken e. V.). The Deposit Protection Fund covers liabilities to customers up to an amount equal to 20 % of the banks own funds (Eigenmittel) as further specified in the Deposit Protection Funds by-laws. This limit will be reduced to 15 % from January 1, 2020 onwards and to 8.75 % from January 1, 2025 onwards. Liabilities to other banks and other specified institutions, obligations of banks represented by instruments in bearer form and covered bonds in registered form (Namenspfandbriefe) are not covered. To the extent the Deposit Protection Fund makes payments to customers of a bank, it will be subrogated to their claims against the bank.
Banks that participate in the Deposit Protection Fund make annual contributions to the fund based on their liabilities to customers, and may be required to make special contributions up to an amount of 50 % of their annual contributions to the extent requested by the Deposit Protection Fund to enable it to fulfill its purpose. If one or more German banks are in financial difficulties, we may therefore participate in their restructuring even where we have no business relationship or strategic interest, in order to avoid making special contributions to the Deposit Protection Fund in case of an insolvency of such bank or banks, or we may be required to make such special contributions.
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On February 17, 2017, the Association of German Banks published a press release announcing that it is going to reform the Deposit Protection Fund. First, from October 1, 2017, bank-like clients (certain investment firms and financial institutions) as well as federal, regional and local governments would no longer be covered by the Deposit Protection Fund, but individuals, businesses, insurance companies and semi-governmental agencies, such as pension schemes for certain professions, would remain protected. Second, also from October 1, 2017, promissory notes (Schuldschein-darlehen) and registered bonds (Namensschuldverschreibungen) would no longer be covered by the Deposit Protection Fund, unless held by individuals or foundations and subject to grandfathering provisions. Third, from January 1, 2020, deposits with a term of over 18 months would no longer be protected, unless held by individuals or foundations and again subject to grandfathering provisions. The reform needs to be ratified by the Delegates Assembly (Dele-giertenversammlung) of the Association of German Banks which is meeting on April 5, 2017.
Further Regulation and Supervision in the European Economic Area
Since 1989 the European Union has enacted a number of regulations and directives to create a single European Union-wide market with almost no internal barriers on banking and financial services. The Agreement on the European Economic Area extends this single market to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Within this market our branches generally operate under the so-called European Passport. Under the European Passport, our branches are subject to regulation and supervision primarily by the ECB and the BaFin. Similarly, we also provide cross-border services in the European Economic Area under the European Passport directly without intermediation of branches. To the extent that activities are carried out within its jurisdiction, the authorities of the host country supervise the conduct of such activities. This includes, for example, rules on treating clients fairly and rules governing a banks conduct in the securities market.
On November 24, 2010, the European Union enacted regulations to further integrate the existing national supervisory authorities into a European System of Financial Supervision. A European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) was established and the independent advisory committees to the European Commission for banks, insurance companies and securities markets which had existed since 2004 were transformed into new European authorities, the ESAs: the EBA, the ESMA and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).
The ESRB is responsible for the macro-prudential oversight of the financial system within the European Union. It collects and analyzes in particular all relevant information to identify systemic risks and issue warnings and recommendations for remedial action as appropriate. The secretariat of the ESRB is supported by the ECB. The tasks of the EBA, EIOPA, and ESMA are to further integrate and harmonize the work of the relevant national supervisory authorities and to ensure a consistent application of European Union law. To that effect they shall in particular develop technical standards for supervision, and help develop regulatory standards, which will become effective if the European Commission endorses them. They shall also issue guidelines and recommendations for supervisory practices and coordinate the work of competent supervisory authorities in emergency situations where the orderly functioning or integrity of the financial markets or the stability of the financial system in the European Union is jeopardized (see Banking Legislation above). In such case, the EBA and the other new authorities may give instructions to competent supervisory authorities and, in certain circumstances, directly to banks and other financial institutions, to take remedial measures.
Regulation and Supervision in the United States
Our operations are subject to extensive federal and state banking, securities and derivatives regulation and supervision in the United States. We engage in U.S. banking activities directly through our New York branch. We also control U.S. banking organization subsidiaries, including DB USA Corporation, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (DBTCA), and U.S. broker-dealers, such as Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., U.S. nondeposit trust companies and nonbanking subsidiaries.
In 2010, the United States enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act), which provides a broad framework for significant regulatory changes that extend to almost every area of U.S. financial regulation. While rulemaking in respect of many of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act has already taken place, full implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act will require further detailed rulemaking and uncertainty remains about
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the final details, timing and impact of many of the rules. In addition, the substance and impact of the Dodd-Frank Act may be affected by changes in the U.S. political landscape.
The Dodd-Frank Act provisions known as the Volcker Rule limit the ability of banking entities and their affiliates to engage as principal in certain types of proprietary trading unrelated to serving clients and to sponsor or invest in private equity or hedge funds or similar funds (covered funds), subject to certain exclusions and exemptions. In the case of non-U.S. banking entities such as Deutsche Bank AG, these exemptions permit certain activities conducted outside the United States, provided that certain criteria are satisfied. The Volcker Rule also limits the ability of banking entities and their affiliates to enter into certain transactions with covered funds with which they or their affiliates have certain relationships. On December 10, 2013, U.S. regulators released the final version of the regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. Also on that date, the Federal Reserve Board extended the end of the conformance period for the Volcker Rule until July 21, 2015 (with the possibility of two one-year extensions under certain circumstances), by which time financial institutions subject to the rule, such as us, had to bring their activities and investments into compliance and implement a specific compliance program. The Federal Reserve Board has extended the Volcker Rules general conformance period for investments in and relationships with covered funds and certain foreign funds that were in place on or prior to December 31, 2013 until July 21, 2017. This extension of the conformance period does not apply to the Volcker Rules prohibitions on proprietary trading or to any investments in and relationships with covered funds made or entered into after December 31, 2013.
The Dodd-Frank Act also provides regulators with tools to provide greater capital, leverage and liquidity requirements and other prudential standards, particularly for financial institutions that pose significant systemic risk. U.S. regulators are also able to restrict the size and growth of systemically significant non-bank financial companies and large interconnected bank holding companies. U.S. regulators are also required to impose bright-line debt-to-equity ratio limits on financial companies that the Financial Stability Oversight Council determines pose a grave threat to financial stability if it determines that the imposition of such limits is necessary to minimize the risk.
With respect to prudential standards, on February 18, 2014, the Federal Reserve Board adopted rules that set forth how the U.S. operations of certain foreign banking organizations (FBOs), such as Deutsche Bank, are be required to be structured in the U.S., as well as the enhanced prudential standards that apply to our U.S. operations (the FBO Rules).
Under the FBO Rules, by July 1, 2016, a large FBO with U.S.$ 50 billion or more in U.S. non-branch assets, such as us, was required to establish or designate a separately capitalized top-tier U.S. intermediate holding company (IHC) that would hold substantially all of the FBOs ownership interests in its U.S. subsidiaries. On July 1, 2016, we designated DB USA Corporation as our IHC and, as of that date, DB USA Corporation became subject, on a consolidated basis, to the risk-based capital requirements under the U.S. Basel 3 capital framework, capital planning and stress testing requirements (on a phased-in basis), U.S. liquidity buffer requirements and other enhanced prudential standards comparable to those applicable to top-tier U.S. bank holding companies of a similar size. The Federal Reserve Board has the authority to examine DB USA Corporation and any of its subsidiaries, as well as our New York branch. U.S. leverage requirements applicable to the IHC will take effect beginning in January 2018. An FBOs U.S. branches and agencies will not be held beneath an IHC; however, the U.S. branches and agencies of the FBO (and in certain cases, the entire U.S. operations of the FBO) will be subject to certain liquidity requirements, as well as other specific enhanced prudential standards, such as risk management and, under certain circumstances, asset maintenance requirements. Additionally, the FBO Rules place requirements on the FBO itself related to the adequacy and reporting of the FBOs home country capital and stress testing regime. On March 4, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board issued a re-proposal of its requirements relating to single counterparty credit limits that would apply to an FBOs combined U.S. operations and its IHC. The re-proposal is still under consideration by the Federal Reserve Board. In addition, the Federal Reserve Board is still considering an early remediation framework under which the Federal Reserve Board would implement prescribed restrictions and penalties against the FBO and its U.S. operations, such as restrictions on the ability of the FBO and its U.S. operations to make discretionary compensation payments to certain of its officers and directors, if the FBO and/or its U.S. operations do not meet certain risk-based capital, leverage, liquidity, stress testing or other risk management requirements, and would authorize the termination of U.S. operations under certain circumstances.
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Title I of the Dodd-Frank Act and the implementing regulations issued by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) require each bank holding company with assets of U.S.$ 50 billion or more, including Deutsche Bank AG, to prepare and submit annually a plan for the orderly resolution of subsidiaries and operations in the event of future material financial distress or failure (the Title I US Resolution Plan). For foreign-based companies subject to these resolution planning requirements such as Deutsche Bank AG, the Title I US Resolution Plan only relates to subsidiaries, branches, agencies and businesses that are domiciled in or whose activities are carried out in whole or in material part in the United States. Deutsche Bank AG filed its last Title I US Resolution Plan in July 2015 and was not required to file a Title I US Resolution Plan in 2016. In addition to the Title I US Resolution Plan, in 2014, DBTCA, one of our insured depository institutions (IDIs) in the United States, became subject to the FDICs final rule requiring IDIs with total assets of U.S.$ 50 billion or more to submit periodically to the FDIC a plan for resolution in the event of failure (the IDI Plan and, together with the Title I US Resolution Plan, the US Resolution Plan) under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (the IDI Rule). In 2014, Deutsche Bank AG expanded its Title I US Resolution Plan to also be responsive to the IDI Rule requirements. In September 2015, DBTCA prepared and submitted a separate IDI Plan and was not required to file an IDI Plan in 2016. Our next US Resolution Plan is currently expected to be due on July 1, 2017.
The core elements of the US Resolution Plan are Material Entities (MEs), Core Business Lines (CBLs), Critical Operations (COs) and, for purposes of the IDI Plan, Critical Services. The US Resolution Plan lays out the resolution strategy for each ME, defined as those entities significant to the activities of a CO or CBL and demonstrates how each ME, CBL and CO, as applicable, can be resolved in a rapid and orderly manner and without systemic impact on U.S. financial stability. The US Resolution Plan also discusses the strategy for continuing Critical Services in resolution. Key factors addressed in the US Resolution Plan include how to ensure:
| Continued access to services from other U.S. and non-U.S. legal entities as well as from third parties such as payment servicers, exchanges and key vendors; |
| Availability of funding from both external and internal sources; |
| Retention of key employees during resolution; and |
| Efficient and coordinated close-out of cross-border contracts. |
The US Resolution Plan is drafted in coordination with the U.S. businesses and infrastructure groups so that it accurately reflects the business, critical infrastructure and key interconnections.
Our other U.S. bank holding company subsidiary, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, is subject to risk-based and leverage capital requirements, liquidity requirements, and other enhanced prudential standards applicable to large U.S. bank holding companies. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation also became subject to capital planning and stress testing requirements on June 30, 2014. On June 29, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board publicly indicated that it had objected to Deutsche Bank Trust Corporations 2016 capital plan submission due to weaknesses in its capital planning processes. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporations stressed Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio was forecast by the Federal Reserve Board to fall to as low as 30.1 % under the supervisory severely adverse scenario. This hypothetical stressed ratio would be substantially above the minimum required ratio of 4.5 %. Stress testing results are based on hypothetical adverse scenarios and should not be viewed or interpreted as forecasts of expected outcomes or capital adequacy or of the actual financial condition of Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will submit its 2017 capital plan, incorporating enhancements to its processes, on April 5, 2017. The Federal Reserve has indicated that this capital plan will be judged publicly only on a quantitative basis. DB USA Corporation will provide its first capital plan submission to the Federal Reserve Board in April 2017; however, the results of its first submission will not be made public by the Federal Reserve Board. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will remain subject to the capital planning and stress-testing requirements and certain enhanced prudential standards until corresponding requirements applicable to DB USA Corporation become fully effective in January 2018.
In September 2014, the Federal Reserve Board and other U.S. regulators approved a final rule implementing liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements for large U.S. banking holding companies and certain of their subsidiary depositary institutions that are generally consistent with the Basel Committees revised Basel 3 liquidity standards. The LCR requirement is meant to ensure that an organization maintains sufficient high-quality liquid assets to withstand a 30-days
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stress scenario. Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, as a U.S. bank holding company with total assets of U.S.$ 50 billion or more that is not an advanced approaches bank holding company, became subject to a modified, less stringent version of the LCR beginning in January 2016. Since DB USA Corporation is a U.S. bank holding company that had more than U.S.$ 10 billion in foreign exposure as of December 31, 2016, it will become subject to the full LCR on April 1, 2017. At the same time, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, an indirect insured depository institution subsidiary of DB USA Corporation with more than U.S.$ 10 billion in total consolidated assets, will also become subject to the full LCR. Once DB USA Corporation becomes subject to the full LCR on April 1, 2017, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation will no longer be subject to a standalone LCR requirement. On June 1, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board and other U.S. regulators proposed rules implementing the second element of the Basel 3 liquidity framework, the net stable funding ratio (NSFR), which measures whether an institution maintains sufficiently stable amounts of longer-term funding. Under the proposed rules, DB USA Corporation and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas would be subject to the full NSFR on January 1, 2018.
On December 15, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board adopted final rules that implement a U.S. version of the FSBs TLAC standard in the United States. The final rules require, among other things, the U.S. IHCs of non-U.S. G-SIBs, including DB USA Corporation, to maintain a minimum amount of TLAC, and separately require them to maintain a minimum amount of long-term debt. Under the final rules, the required amounts of minimum internal TLAC and the ability of the IHC to issue long-term debt externally varies depending on the G-SIBs planned resolution strategy. Our current expectation is that DB USA Corporation would be considered a non-resolution covered IHC, which means that it is intended, under the planned resolution strategy of its G-SIB parent (Deutsche Bank AG), to continue to operate outside of resolution proceedings while the G-SIB parent is resolved under a single-point of entry resolution strategy. The final rules require a non-resolution covered IHC to maintain, by 2019, (i) internal minimum TLAC of at least 16 % of its risk-weighted assets, 6 % of its Basel 3 leverage ratio denominator and 8 % of its average total consolidated assets, (ii) internal eligible long-term debt of at least 6 % of its risk-weighted assets, 2.5 % of its Basel 3 leverage ratio denominator and 3.5 % of its average total consolidated assets. Eligible long-term debt instruments would be required to meet certain criteria, including issuance to a foreign company that controls directly or indirectly the covered IHC or a foreign affiliate (a non-U.S. entity that is wholly owned, directly or indirectly, by the non-U.S. G-SIB)) and the inclusion of a contractual trigger allowing for, in limited circumstances, the immediate conversion or exchange of some or all of the instrument into Common Equity Tier 1 upon an order by the Federal Reserve Board. Internal TLAC requirements could be satisfied with a combination of eligible long-term debt instruments and Tier 1 capital. DB USA Corporation will also face restrictions on its discretionary bonus payments and capital distributions if it fails to maintain a TLAC buffer consisting of common equity tier 1 capital equal to 2.5 % of risk-weighted assets above the minimum TLAC requirement. The final rules also prohibit or limit DB USA Corporations ability to engage in certain types of financial transactions.
Furthermore, the Dodd-Frank Act provides for an extensive framework for the regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, including mandatory clearing, exchange trading and transaction reporting of certain OTC derivatives, as well as rules regarding the registration of, and capital, margin and business conduct standards for, swap dealers, security-based swap dealers, major swap participants and major security-based swap participants. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted final rules in 2016 that will require additional interest rate swaps to be cleared, with a phased implementation schedule ending in October 2018. In December 2016, also pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC re-proposed regulations to impose position limits on certain commodities and economically equivalent swaps, futures and options. This proposal has not yet been finalized. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also finalized rules regarding registration, business conduct standards and trade acknowledgement and verification requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants, although these rules will not come into effect until the SEC completes further security-based swap rulemakings. Finally, the U.S. Prudential Regulators and the CFTC have adopted final rules establishing margin requirements for non-cleared swaps and security-based swaps. The final margin rules follow a phased implementation schedule, with certain initial margin and variation margin requirements in effect as of September 2016, additional variation margin requirements coming into effect in March 2017, and additional initial margin requirements phased in on an annual basis from September 2017 through September 2020, with the relevant compliance dates depending in each case on the transactional volume of the parties and their affiliates.
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The Dodd-Frank Act also requires broader regulation of hedge funds and private equity funds, as well as credit rating agencies, and imposes new requirements with respect to securitization activities. In October 2014, federal regulatory agencies issued final rules to implement the credit risk retention requirements of Section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which generally require securitizers of different types of asset-backed securiti