The shareholders have upped their stake in Germany’s largest lender to almost 10 per cent.

The Qatari royal family, which is among Deutsche Bank’s biggest shareholders, has increased its stake in the bank.

Qatar’s al-Thani family, who bought into Deutsche Bank in 2014, held a 6.1 per cent stake in the bank through two investment groups as of August 2015. 

The investment groups, Paramount Services Holdings and Supreme Universal Holdings, have raised their respective stakes to “just under 5 per cent”, the lender said in a statement on Friday. It did not say at what price the additional shares were purchased.

“We are pleased that our Qatari shareholders are banking on the success of Deutsche Bank as shown through their long-term holdings,” said Paul Achleitner, chairman of the bank’s supervisory board.

At the suggestion of the two Qatari shareholders, Deutsche Bank has nominated Stefan Simon, a partner at law firm Flick Gocke Schaumburg in Bonn, to join its supervisory board. He replaces Georg Thoma, who stepped down earlier this year following a dispute over how to deal with the lender’s past scandals. Simon will stand for shareholder election at Deutsche Bank’s general meeting in May.

Shares in Deutsche Bank have halved over the past year. Chief executive John Cryan has been on a restructuring drive, selling off "non-core" assets and cutting jobs to restore profitability.