Deutsche Bank working hard to prepare for M&A wave, CFO says

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank’s finance chief said on Tuesday that the German lender was working hard to prepare for an expected wave of mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector.

Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke was speaking at a financial conference as speculation heats up about potential cross-boarder mergers.

“For Deutsche Bank, we’ve been very focused on executing on our own strategy, and we think that strategy would prepare us to engage in merger activity when the time comes and the right opportunities arise,” von Moltke said.

“So we are expecting this wave but we are also working hard to prepare on our side,” he said.

Deutsche Bank called off merger talks with domestic rival Commerzbank last year. Von Moltke said domestic mergers “frankly present some challenges”.

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Michelle Adair)