Deutsche Bank was founded in Berlin in 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade. The bank's statute was adopted on 22 January 1870, and on 10 March 1870 the Prussian government granted it a banking licence. The statute laid great stress on foreign business: The object of the company is to transact banking business of all kinds, in particular to promote and facilitate trade relations between Germany, other European countries and overseas markets. One of the three founders were George Siemens whose father's cousin had founded Siemens and Halske, Adelbert Delbrück and L. Bamberger. Previous to the founding of Deutsche Bank, German importers and exporters were dependent upon English and French banking institutions in the world markets, a serious handicap in that German bills were almost unknown in international commerce, generally disliked and subject to a higher rate of discount than English or French bills.
Presently, Deutsche Bank AG is a German global banking and financial services company, with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt. It has more than 100,000 employees in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets. In 2009, Deutsche Bank was the largest foreign exchange dealer in the world with a market share of 21 percent. The company was a component of the STOXX Europe 50 stock market index until being replaced on that index on August 8, 2016. The bank offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business clients. Deutsche Bank’s core business is investment banking, which represents 50% of equity, 75% of leverage assets and 50% of profits. Services include sales, trading, research and origination of debt and equity, mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Risk management products, such as derivatives, corporate finance, wealth management, retail banking, fund management, and transaction banking. In January 2014, Deutsche Bank reported a €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) pre-tax loss for the fourth quarter of 2013. This came after analysts had predicted a profit of nearly €600 million, according to FactSet estimates. Revenues slipped by 16% versus the prior year. On 7 June 2015, the then co-CEOs, Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, both offered their resignations to the bank's supervisory board, which were accepted. Anshu Jain's resignation took effect on 30 June 2015, but he provided consultancy to the bank until January 2016. Juergen Fitschen temporarily continued as joint CEO until 19 May 2016. The appointment of John Cryan as joint CEO was announced, effective 1 July 2016; he became sole CEO at the end of Juergen Fitschen's term. Since 2017, its biggest shareholder is Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, which owns 10.0% of its stakes.