On April 15, 2003, we completed Deutsche Bank’s first share buyback program, announced in June 2002, after cancelling 40 million shares. On September 4, we launched our second share buyback program for which we obtained shareholder approval at the General Meeting in June 2003 (see chart on page 41). On this basis, Deutsche Bank is authorized to buy up to 58 million of its own shares until September 2004, or 10% of total shares issued. The program is implemented via both spot transactions and the sale of put options. The program is financed from current earnings and capital released by a further reduction of risk-weighted assets. Despite the repurchase of our own shares, we continue to maintain Deutsche Bank’s core capital ratio at the upper end of our target corridor of 8 – 9%.
By year’s end, we had repurchased more than 17 million shares at an average price of € 57.70. On our Investor Relations website, we regularly keep investors informed about progress in the share buyback program. In buying back our own shares, we want to return excess capital to our shareholders and improve our return on equity and earnings per share .