The co-chief executives of Deutsche Bank's corporate banking and securities arm today admitted that in the expected absence of a recovery in capital markets activity, the division would have to "go on a diet" in order to reach its financial targets.

A day after Deutsche Bank group co-chief executive Anshu Jain said at the firm's investor day in Frankfurt that the investment bank, which includes the corporate banking and securities business, was set for a "very significant streamlining", Colin Fan and Robert Rankin expressed their confidence that their business could meet its targets. Fan said this would be achieved through a "painstaking, methodical, meticulous" approach to boosting efficiency.