Deutsche Bank said Thursday that its third-quarter profit slipped 74 percent as it reported write-downs of another 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion) on mortgage-backed securities.
The bank, Germany’s biggest in terms of assets, earned 414 million euros ($528.7 million) in the July-September period, compared with 1.6 billion euros a year earlier.
Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said the quarter was characterized by a “considerable intensification of the credit crisis in September” that has spread around the world.
“Despite these extraordinary conditions, Deutsche Bank reported a profit for the quarter,” he said, noting that its cash on hand enabled it to acquire a stake in Deutsche Postbank, Germany’s biggest retail bank in terms of branches and customers.
“Our agreement to acquire a stake in Deutsche Postbank underlined our determination to grow our core business,” he said.
But looking ahead, Mr. Ackermann said the outlook remained challenging for it and the entire industry.
“Conditions in the equity and credit markets remain extremely difficult,” he said.
The bank said its pretax income also slid lower to 93 million euros ($118.7 million) from last year’s 1.4 billion euros.
The bank’s revenue came in at 4.4 billion euros ($5.62 billion), hampered by the 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in write-downs at its corporate banking and securities unit.
The revenue figure was down 14 percent from last year’s 5.1 billion euros. Last year’s figure included 2.2 billion euros in write-downs.
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