FRANKFURT: Standard Poor's on Friday downgraded Deutsche Bank's credit rating to BBB+ from A- on concerns about the troubled lender's ability to revamp its operations.SP in April placed Deutsche Bank on "credit watch" for a possible downgrade, saying a sudden change in chief executive could prolong the lender's restructuring.The ratings agency questioned new Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing's ability to deliver a plan to scale back its global investment bank, refocusing on Europe and its home market after three consecutive years of losses."We see significant execution risks in the delivery of the updated strategy amid a continued unhelpful market backdrop, and we think that, relative to peers, Deutsche Bank will remain a negative outlier for some time," SP said on Friday.SP reaffirmed that Deutsche Bank's non-preferred senior unsecured debt rating of BBB-, sending Deutsche Bank shares 3 per cent higher in pre-market trading after they closed at their lowest level since Sept.
2016 on Thursday."We appreciate SPs statement that 'management is taking tough actions to cut the cost base and refocus the business in order to address the bank's currently weak profitability.'," Deutsche Bank said.