Deutsche Bank profits up but new chief pledges 'critical review'

Deutsche Bank on Thursday reported higher profits, but its new chief John Cryan pledged to "critically review" the operations of Germany's biggest lender and reduce "unacceptably high" costs.

In its second quarter results, the bank reported a more than three-fold net profit rise to 818 million euros ($896 million) year on year, and a 17 percent increase in revenue to 9.2 billion euros.

Cryan, a Briton who took over as co-chief of the Frankfurt-based investment and retail bank on July 1, however said that the results do "not reflect our tremendous potential."

"Our challenges are also evident in the unacceptably high level of our costs, our continuing burden of heavy litigation charges, a balance sheet that must be more efficient, and the poor overall returns to our shareholders."

Deutsche Bank is mired in around 6,000 different litigation cases and in June was fined a record $2.5 billion for its involvement in an interest rate-rigging scandal.

Deutsche Bank announced last month that its two co-chief executives were stepping down in the face of a wave of scandals and the company's failure to meet profit targets.

Anshu Jain stood down at the end of June, while Juergen Fitschen plans to stay on in the job until after Deutsche Bank's annual shareholder meeting in May 2016.

Cryan -- who previously served as chief financial officer for Swiss bank UBS from 2008-2011, and has been on Deutsche Bank's advisory board since 2013 -- officially took over from Jain as co-CEO in late June.

He will take sole charge when Fitschen steps down next year.

For the months and years ahead, Cryan vowed in a statement that "we must become more efficient."

"We must be disciplined in how, where and with whom we do business. We must critically review any countries, business lines, products and relationships that are unattractive."