Deutsche Bank is on the lookout for expansion opportunities in the area of payments systems, the lender's strategy director said in response to a question about the lender's interest in Wirecard's assets.

"We are one of the largest banks in payment transactions worldwide ... So if there are opportunities here to strengthen ourselves, we will look into them," Deutsche's Fabrizio Campelli told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published on Friday.

Campelli said the bank was optimistic that it could cut adjusted costs to 19.5 billion euros this year, adding that it was on track with the planned 18,000 job cuts by 2022, as part of a turnaround scheme announced last year.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Edward Taylor)