Deutsche Bank Warns on Mortgage Hit, But Expects to Hit Earnings Target

This morning it’s Deutsche Bank’s turn at what many have taken to calling “the confessional” — CEO Josef Ackermann is set to address a banking conference today, and in advance of his remarks the company released information about the firm’s expected third quarter performance.

Bottom line: the firm will take roughly a $3.1 billion dollar (2.2 billion EUR) hit in its Corporate Banking & Securities unit, including $2.12 billion in RMBS and related write-downs. The write-downs are expected to drive a loss within that division that may be as high as $500 million (350 million EUR).

In spite of the expected losses in its Corporate Banking & Securities unit, Deutsche Bank said it expects to report net earnings of roughly $2 billion (1.4 billion EUR) due to strength in other operating segments.

From the press statement:

Ackermann commented: “Despite a challenging quarter for our investment banking franchise, our ’stable’ businesses continue to perform well. We see substantial opportunities in investment banking after this period of correction. Therefore, we stay the course and remain committed to our publicly-stated financial targets for 2008, including pre-tax profits of EUR 8.4 billion, assuming normally functioning markets. We also re-affirm our commitment to a tier 1 capital ratio of between 8% and 9%.”