The German banking giant posted a net income of €236m for the quarter,compared to €559m in the same quarter last year.
Its revenue fell 22% to €8.1bn in the quarter and the company attributed the decline to challenging environment capital market conditions.
Deutsche Bank co-CEO John Cryan said: "Financial markets were challenging during the first quarter, largely reflecting concerns about the outlook for the global economy.
"This uncertainty led to a decline in client activity in the capital markets, and our revenues fell from the prior year, most notably in our trading and corporate finance businesses.
"Our results reflect these challenging conditions as well as the impact of our strategic decisions to exit or reduce significantly selected businesses."
The lender witnessed a 15% drop in its corporate and investment banking division and a 23% decline in its global markets unit, mainly due to reduced client activity.
While its debt sales and trading revenues fell 29% to €2bn in the first quarter compared to a year-ago quarter, equity sales and trading revenues were also down 29%.
Its revenue from non-core operations plunged 96% to €16m due to lower portfolio revenues and net losses from de-risking, and the non-recurrence of a one-time recovery of €219m in the prior year quarter.
Provisions to cover bad loans were up 40% lower to €304m in the January-March quarter year-on-year but were down 20% on a sequential basis.
The bank's non-interest expenses decreased sharply by 17% to €7.2bn in the quarter, primarily due to fall in litigation expenses by €1.4bn.
Severance and restructuring expenses for the bank rose by €218m to €285m, largely for German business optimization.
Cryan said: "Implementing our strategy remains our core focus and 2016 will be the peak year for our restructuring efforts. We expect to close the sale of our stake in Hua Xia Bank in the second quarter and this will strengthen our CET1 ratio.
"We continue to upgrade our technology, strengthen our control environment, and work towards resolving outstanding litigation matters."
Image: Deutsche Bank Q1 profit down 58% on weak trading activity. Photo courtesy of Deutsche Bank
