Read the e-mail addressed to Deutsche Bank Managing Director Christian Sewing about the job cuts.

Dear colleagues,

At the May Annual General Meeting, I stated that we would significantly accelerate the transformation of our bank and that we should take faster and more radical measures. Since then, many of you have wondered when we will announce the next concrete steps.

Today is that day: after stabilizing our bank last year, we are now entering the next phase – and that means nothing less than a fundamental transformation of our bank.

First of all, let me say this: I am very conscious of the fact that when we rebuild our bank, we make deep cuts. Personally, I very much regret the impact it will have on some of you. However, in the long-term interest of our bank, we have no choice but to approach this transformation decisively. It is only then that we can build on our long history and turn Deutsche Bank once again into a state-of-the-art bank. A bank of which we can be rightly proud.

I will not go over all the details we just published in our press release.

But I want to emphasize that what we have announced today is nothing less than a fundamental reconstruction of the Deutsche Bank by which we are ushering in a new era for our bank. It is a reconstruction that, in a way, also brings us back to our roots. We are creating a bank that will be more profitable, lighter, more innovative and more resilient. Once again, we are placing our clients' needs at the center of our activities and, finally, generating returns for our shareholders.

Transformation will bring us closer to our main strength, our DNA. Nearly 150 years ago, we were founded as a bank serving German and European companies worldwide, providing a global network and paving the way for business and investors in Europe. International. This is exactly the role that will be played by the corporate bank we are training. In the future, our corporate bank will also serve corporate and commercial clients of Deutsche Bank and Postbank in our national market. This division focuses on midcap clients, family businesses and multinationals. It will hold deposits of more than 200 billion euros and will deal every day financial transactions representing one billion euros.

In addition to our corporate bank, we will have an investment bank connecting our corporate clients to capital markets around the world. In this division, we will focus on areas in which we have longstanding expertise – credit, fixed income and foreign currency, as well as strategic advice. In the future, our investment bank will be smaller, but all the more stable and competitive.

The strict separation between private clients and businesses also means that we will have a much more targeted clientele. In our home market, we are already a market leader in many companies. Our declared goal is also to reach this position in areas where we do not yet have leadership but a strong growth potential by offering innovative digital solutions and exceptional advice. The task is to find ways to combine these two propositions, because it is precisely in this combination that our strength lies. To do this, we must manage our cost base more efficiently. This is why we will accelerate the integration of Deutsche Bank and Postbank.

Our goal is clear: we want to achieve a return on tangible after-tax capital of 8% by 2022. It is absolutely essential that we succeed if we want to be competitive in the long term.

We are not too far from this goal. The DWS RoTE is already above 10%, the Corporate Bank is only slightly lower, and we are on track to reach this goal in private banking. Within the investment bank, we are very profitable and stable in many areas of activity and we will improve significantly over the next few years.

In areas where we are not currently competing to win, we are now taking decisive action. Indeed, we have no choice but to focus our strengths and resources where we play to win and where we can truly make a difference for our customers.

This means that we will basically rebuild our bank. In total, we will transfer 74 billion euros of risk-weighted assets into the Capital Release Unit (CRU) that will be sold over the next few years. The term "bad bank", which is often used in the media, is in this case misleading. Given the high quality and in many cases the short duration of the assets, we expect them to disappear quickly. This will release large amounts of capital. As a result, we expect to return 5 billion euros to shareholders from 2022.

However, reconstruction will only succeed if we fundamentally restructure our infrastructure – all transversal functions supporting activities. Here, we must also become more innovative and more efficient while simultaneously strengthening our controls.

Let's start with innovation: we intend to invest 13 billion euros in technology by 2022. In addition, we will have a member of the board of directors. administration responsible for digitization, data and innovation. With Bernd Leukert, we will be joined by a former Product Development Manager at SAP. In the era of cloud computing and platform economies, it will ensure that we further accelerate our progress. In doing so, we can build on the many innovations our bank has developed over the last two years.

This will give Frank Kuhnke the freedom to focus on what he does better than anyone else. It will test the structure and processes of our infrastructure functions and make them simpler and more efficient. For many years, our fixed costs have been much too high, as our cost / income ratio shows. We intend to reduce the adjusted costs from about 6 billion euros to 17 billion euros by 2022.

One thing is certain: we will not make any sacrifices with regard to our control functions. On the contrary, we can and will improve them. That's why we associate risk management with compliance and anti-financial crime divisions. These areas, which are of paramount importance to our integrity and trust in our bank, will be combined in a single division led by Stuart Lewis.

This brings us to the people who will execute the transformation: our management team. One thing is certain: if we really want to create a new Deutsche Bank, the change will have to start at the top. It's a question of structure as much as individual member of the team.

Let me start with the leadership structure we also announced today. In the future, our board of directors – next to our chairman Karl von Rohr and myself – will only represent the central functions and regions of the bank. This includes Christiana Riley, who will be responsible for our activities in the Americas, and Stefan Simon, who will be responsible for legal and regulatory affairs. Alongside Bernd Leukert, it is planned to become a member of the Management Board as soon as the regulatory approvals are obtained.

On the other hand, we also have some goodbyes. I would like to sincerely thank Sylvie Matherat, Garth Ritchie and Frank Strauß for their services at Deutsche Bank. Together, we have come a long way, especially in the past year. I personally enjoyed the spirit of cooperation with them three. However, I am confident that our new structure is an important step forward for our bank as it will allow us to become more agile and flexible.

We deliberately separate business leaders from board responsibilities that require a lot of time and attention. Instead, we want to enable business unit managers to act as entrepreneurs within our bank, while focusing on our customers and what we can offer them. My colleagues and I expect the highest degree of integrity and teamwork. They must be role models, both internal and external. The colleagues who are now joining the new Executive Committee of the group represent exactly these values.

• Our company bank will be headed by Stefan Hoops, who will report to me.
• Mark Fedorcik will be the head of the investment bank. Ram Nayak will lead Fixed Income and Currencies. Both will also report to me.
• The private bank in Germany will be headed by Manfred Knof, former CEO of Allianz Germany. Ashok Aram will lead the international retail business (including international business clients) and Fabrizio Campelli will lead the wealth management business. They will all report to my assistant, Karl von Rohr.
• Asoka Wöhrmann will continue to head our asset management company, DWS, and will report to Karl von Rohr as well.
• The new Capital Release Unit will be led by Louise Kitchen and Ashley Wilson, both of whom will report to Frank Kuhnke.

The steering committee of the group will be supported by the so-called management team, the expanded management circle. The team will consist of 13 members representing the relevant infrastructure functions.

We were determined to form a team that would represent the confidence, the strength of innovation and a spirit of enterprise – and that would allow us to make a credible new start.

Let me summarize again what we do:

• In the future, we will have four companies that are entirely customer-centric.
• We are focusing our efforts on our investment bank, we will be less dependent on Sales & Trading and will reduce our balance sheet.
• We are creating a corporate bank that will be at the center of our bank.
• We aim to reduce our adjusted costs by more than a quarter and simultaneously invest 13 billion euros in technology by 2022.
• And we are not asking our shareholders to pay for this transformation, but on the contrary we intend to return them capital.

All this will create a new and better Deutsche Bank.

However, we must also face the fact that this transformation will require uncomfortable decisions. This is especially true for significant staff reductions. I can assure you that my colleagues and I are aware that this has a profound impact on people and their lives. That is why we will do everything in our power to implement these reductions in the most responsible way possible. I feel our duty. Works councils and workers' representatives will be consulted where appropriate and participation rights provided for by law will be safeguarded.

Making this decision was not easy. This has serious consequences for our bank, the one I have worked with for almost thirty years now.

But I'm determined, just like my management team: it's about thinking radically and differently. It is a new culture. A culture that allows rather than prevent. A culture that always places the bank and its customers ahead of the interests of the individual. A culture where integrity and teamwork are core values. A culture that takes seriously our responsibility to the economy and society. A culture of which we are all proud and where extremely talented people want to work.

Thank you for your support.

Best wishes,

Christian couture