Deutsche Bank CEO sees continued commercial property turmoil through 2024

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank’s chief executive officer said on Tuesday that he expects the current crisis in commercial real estate to continue in 2024 and that provisions for loan losses will be at the upper end of its projected range.

There won’t be “overall big relief” to the challenges facing commercial real estate in 2024, CEO Christian Sewing said at a financial conference.

Deutsche Bank is Germany’s largest lender and also has the most in outstanding loans to the commercial real-state sector among its domestic competitors, data show.

In the United States, where Deutsche Bank is also active, commercial property has been under particular pressure due to high interest rates and office vacancies.

“There is no deterioration but there is also not … signs of improvements,” Sewing said of the sector.

He said that the bank was working on early extensions and restructurings with borrowers.

Deutsche Bank has forecast that provisions for credit losses in 2024 would be 25 to 30 basis points of loans.

Sewing on Tuesday narrowed the forecast, saying provisions would likely land at the “higher side” of the range “given where the world is”.

(Reporting by Tom Sims; editing by Bartosz Dabrowski and Rachel More)