Deutsche Bank Turns 2009 Profit of $6.9 Billion

Deutsche Bank AG says it posted net income of 5 billion euros ($6.9 billion) in 2009 and that it expects the banking market to progress slowly toward "a new form of "normality" this year and next.

Deutsche Bank, based in Frankfurt and Germany's biggest lender, lost nearly 4 billion euros in 2008 as the global economic crisis hit earnings.

The bank confirmed Tuesday its preliminary estimates published last month that 2009 revenue more than doubled to 28 billion euros from almost 14 billion euros in 2008.

Deutsche Bank says the current year would improve but remain difficult, and that in 2011 pretax profit could amount to 10 billion euros from core businesses.

In 2009, the company's operating profit was 5.2 billion euros. That compared with a 5.7 billion euro loss in 2008.