Deutsche Bank AG earned a respectable second-quarter profit of $1 billion, but the amount was a 64% drop at $4.2 billion in the same year-ago period due to a $3.6 billion in new write-downs. The German bank's Achilles heel was its securities unit, which posted its second straight quarterly loss.
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But despite the slowdown for Deutsche and the backdrop of a global
credit crisis, the German bank has looked for deals to bulk up.
Deutsche was on the prowl for Citigroup Inc.'s German retail banking
division, Citibank Privatkunden AG & Co. KGaA, in early July, but
was outbid by French bank Credit Mutuel Group in a €4.9 billion ($7.7
billion) deal. The move would have given Deutsche a unit with a post-tax
earning of €365 million in 2007 and net assets of €944 million.
Meanwhile, as other banks are cutting staff, Deutsche has added 2,000 additional employees at the end of the second quarter. - Gerald Magpily
See Dealape: European banks fight credit crunch
