Deutsche Bank MD bonuses are up 60% in two years, but there's a catch
Deutsche Bank's annual report for 2025 is out, and with it, the bank's compensation report. There is good and bad news within it.
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The good news is that bonuses are up for everyone. They are especially higher for managing directors (MDs) and others categorised as 'material risk takers' (MRTs).
The bad news is that Deutsche Bank is still deferring its compensation heavily, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As a European bank, it remains governed by punitive European compensation rules.
Deutsche Bank's overall bonus pool for last year was €2.7bn, an 8% increase on 2024. In the investment bank specifically, the bonus pool was €1.3bn, and within the investment bank a bonus pool of €644m went to a small pool of material risk takers.
The outcomes for pay per head at Deutsche's investment bank are shown in the charts below. The average of Deutsche Bank's 8,188 employees earned a total of €330k for last year in combined salary and bonus. The average of Deutsche's 634 MRTs in the investment bank earned €1.8m. One unnamed individual at Deutsche Bank earned between €17m and €18m.
As the chart below shows, average bonuses for Deutsche Bank's investment bank MRTs have risen by 57% in two years. In 2023, the bank was paying its investment bank MRTs average bonuses of €646k. Last year, it paid €1m.
Deutsche Bank's senior people might be happy about their bonus increases, were it not for the fact that their bonuses are heavily deferred. Deutsche said today that MRTs in its 'Material Business Units' are subject to 50% deferrals and that if anyone there earns a salary of €600k+, the entirety of their bonus will be deferred. The average MRT salary in the investment bank is €795k.
Deutsche's keenness for withholding bonuses comes as non-EU banks in London are benefitting from a relaxation of the EU bonus rules. Liberated banks are free to pay bonuses that are many multiples of salary while Deutsche Bank is stuck paying bonuses that are twice salary or less.
Non-EU banks can also pay a higher proportion of their bonuses in cash. The UK government ruled last year that MRTs can be defined more loosely and that 60% of their bonuses up to £660k can be cash and 40% of bonuses beyond that. Deutsche Bank doesn't operate under UK rules; it looks like most of its MRTS have 100% of their bonuses deferred.
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