Deutsche Bank needs more new bankers, and its traders are working harder for less
It's Deutsche Bank Q1 results day, and maybe Barclays bankers and traders can now feel ok. Yesterday, Barclays revealed some lacklustre results in fixed income trading but some fine results in M&A banking. Today, Deutsche Bank reveals some lacklustre results in fixed income trading and some poor results in M&A banking.
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Deutsche Bank's M&A bankers have been misfiring for a while. The German bank has a lot of newish people. Between 2023 and 2024, it hired around 240 senior bankers, of whom many were managing directors. It might be expected that these new bankers would bring new revenues, and yet this hasn't happened yet. Last year, Deutsche's M&A revenues were up only 1%. In the first quarter of 2026, they fell by 13% year-on-year. By comparison, the chart below shows what's happened to M&A revenues at other banks to report so far:
What's occurred in M&A at Deutsche Bank? It might be a question of deal mix, again. Last year we suggested that Deutsche's bankers are strongest in areas like industrials and business services, which weren't the sectors of the moment. In the first quarter of 2026, M&A revenues were driven by big ticket M&A deals in the US, which is an area in which DB is still developing. Either way, Deutsche remains patient with its hundreds of new hires whose novelty may now be wearing thin: it said today that no money was spent on restructuring in the first quarter.
Beyond M&A advisory, Deutsche Bank's equity capital markets (ECM) bankers performed best in Q1 (up 27%), but its fixed income salespeople and traders seemed to suffer in the same way as those at Barclays and Goldman Sachs. - Deutsche said its fixed income trading revenues fell year-on-year "due to reduced revenues in rates." DB added that its FX trading revenues rose and neglected to mention its performance in credit.
Although revenues at Deutsche Bank's all-important fixed income trading division fell compared to the prior year's record quarter, its traders were hard at work. The German bank said today that fixed income client activity was up 8% in the first quarter against a "strong prior year."
For the first time, Deutsche also split out the currencies in which its revenues and costs are denominated. The chart below suggests it might be a fine thing for Deutsche Bank if the value of GBP fell substantially relative to the dollar or euro. In the past quarter, though, DB said FX headwinds impacted revenues in the investment bank.
For the moment, then, Deutsche Bank's traders especially seem to be working harder for less. The bank cut compensation spending by 3% year-on-year in the first quarter, while increasing headcount by 3% over the same period.
Deutsche Bank declined respond to a request to comment.
Costs and revenues by currency at DB:
Source: Deutsche Bank
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