Deutsche Bank shares slump as US tax reforms sap 2017 result

Shares in Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank plunged on Friday after it said that President Donald Trump's tax reforms in the US pushed it into the red in 2017.

Deutsche Bank shares fell more than five percent to around 14 euros ($17.5) at the start of trade on Friday and remained at similar levels around midday GMT, helping pull the overall market down by around 1.3 percent.

Earlier, the Frankfurt-based bank had said that its net loss amounted to 512 million euros ($640 million) last year, narrower than the loss of 1.4 billion euros in 2016.

Revenues fell to 26.4 billion euros in 2017 from 30 billion euros the year before.

At a pre-tax level, however, Deutsche Bank was back in the black, notching up a profit of almost 1.3 billion euros, compared with a loss of 810 million euros the previous year.

"Only a charge related to US tax reform at the end of the year meant that we had to post a full-year after-tax loss," chief executive John Cryan said in a statement.

In the fourth quarter, when the tax bill was passed, Deutsche booked a 2.2-billion-euro loss -- wiping out the profits it had eked out in the preceding nine months.

Nevertheless, "we believe we are firmly on the path to producing growth and higher returns with sustained discipline on costs and risks," Cryan said.

Deutsche would have reported profits of around one billion euros for the year had the tax changes not landed in November.