shares in deutsche bank ag traded sharply lower on wednesday despite a rise in the banks firstquarter profit as a disappointing performance on costs came into focus the german lenders costs were about 7 higher than expected analysts at barclays and morgan stanley flagged in research notes keeping costs contained is one of deutsches main areas of focus part of a plan to overhaul the bank launched in 2019 deutsche bank on wednesday said aftertax profit rose to 123 billion euros 131 billion from eur104 billion a year earlier ahead of a companycompiled consensus forecast of eur112 billion revenue rose 1 to eur733 billion costs fell 4 despite deutsche bank recognizing a 28 increase in annual bank levies in the quarter however they were still higher than consensus forecasts mainly due to factors tied to compensation such as payroll inflation morgan stanley analysts said