"We want to achieve a post-tax return on tangible equity of more than 10% and reduce the cost-to-income ratio to below 62.5%," Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke told the paper in an interview published on Tuesday.

"Of course, have asked ourselves whether the developments of the past months made it necessary to change our strategy," von Moltke said hinting at the Ukraine war, inflationary woes and rising interest rates.

But instead, the board concluded that the events that have occurred since February confirmed the bank's strategy: "Our corporate bank, for example, is successful because we support our customers precisely on the issues that are currently the big challenges."

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)