Deutsche Bank AG Long-Term 'A-' Rating Placed On Watch Negative As Management Change Highlights Strategic Challenges

On April 8, Deutsche Bank announced a change of CEO, following a fortnight of board-level tensions over a perceived lack of progress in executing the group's multi-year restructuring. We anticipate that this could lead to adjustment in the existing strategy or to how it is executed, although we do not currently anticipate any radical change. We are placing our 'A-' long-term issuer credit rating on Deutsche Bank and its core operating subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications as we consider that a prolonged, deepened, or more costly restructuring would lead the bank to remain a negative outlier for an extended period. We are affirming our ratings on Deutsche Bank's subordinated debt issues, including our 'BBB-' rating on its senior subordinated

...+ On April 8, Deutsche Bank announced a change of CEO, following a fortnight of board-level tensions over a perceived lack of progress in executing the group's multi-year restructuring. + We anticipate that this could lead to adjustment in the existing strategy or to how it is executed, although we do not currently anticipate any radical change. + We are placing our 'A-' long-term issuer credit rating on Deutsche Bank and its core operating subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications as we consider that a prolonged, deepened, or more costly restructuring would lead the bank to remain a negative outlier for an extended period. + We are affirming our ratings on Deutsche Bank's subordinated debt issues, including our '###-' rating on its senior subordinated (also known as senior non-preferred) instruments. + We plan to resolve the CreditWatch placement by end-May at the latest, at which point we expect more details on the strategy to have been unveiled. LONDON (S&P Global Ratings)...

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