The bank’s chief executive John Cryan said that it has set aside provisions of €5.4bn ($6bn) to settle pending litigation issues and it expects to see further significant charges this year.
Cryan told during the annual meeting of shareholders: "I don’t want to create the impression that the high fines of the last few years are due solely to poor systems. But they are a part of the problem which, as you know, has assumed very major dimensions.
"I am cautiously confident that we are gradually approaching the home straight as far as our litigation is concerned. We expect to be able to conclude a number of key cases this year."
Due to a sharp increase in litigation charges to €5.2bn, the bank posted a net loss of €6.8bn last year, its first loss since the financial crisis of 2008.
Cyran said that the lender plans to reduce its annual cost base by around €5bn to less than €22bn by the end of 2018.
He said: "This is an absolute cost target. We aim to reach it by making savings and selling business units."
The bank saw 58% decline in its net profit in the first quarter of this year due to volatile global markets weighing on its trading revenues.
Net income of the bank stood at €236m in the January-March quarter, compared to €559m in the same quarter last year. Its revenue fell 22% to €8.1bn in the quarter.
The lender posted 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.
Cyran added: "We will be withdrawing from a number of markets, such as the capital market business in Russia by the middle of the year. And we will be working with far fewer clients in this division in future.
"We aim to concentrate our efforts on around a third of our clients, who already produce 98% of our revenues today.
Image: Deutsche Bank in Warsaw, Poland. Photo courtesy of Deutsche Bank.
