(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG will make further “gradual improvement” next year, though it still has some way to go to convince shareholders that its turnaround is successful, according to Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing. 

The recovery at Germany’s biggest lender is “still a show-me story,” Sewing, 53, said Wednesday at the Financial Times global banking summit in London. Deutsche Bank has to do a “better job” at explaining to investors that a significant part of its investment-banking revenue is stable, he said.

Sewing has been balancing cost cuts with investments in growth since emerging from a four-year turnaround of the lender, and is seeking to boost fee income to offset an expected slowdown in interest revenue. Still, Deutsche Bank’s shares trade at a discount to book value of more than 60%, well below most major Wall Street banks.  

Asked about consolidation among European banks, Sewing said regulations would need to change to enable large deals to happen, adding the long-mooted creation of a banking union would be “pretty important” for more tie-ups among the region’s lenders. 

On the UK’s recent move to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses, the executive said that if limits are lifted in most parts of the world, then this is something Europe needed to consider. This could only be done, however, if it’s clear that firms’ risk cultures have changed, Sewing said.  

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