Deutsche Bank was founded in 1870 to support German foreign trade and became one of Germany’s largest banks.
The bank was established in Berlin on 10 March 1870 under a charter intended to improve Germany’s international commercial and financial connections. Its early business focused on financing overseas trade and helping German companies operate beyond domestic markets.
During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Deutsche Bank expanded through industrial finance, securities work, international branches, and acquisitions. It became a major universal bank, offering both corporate and investment banking as well as services for private customers.
Deutsche Bank is a commercial bank, not Germany’s central bank. That role belongs to the Deutsche Bundesbank, which was created in 1957 and now participates in the Eurosystem.