This is not turning out to be a good week at Deutsche Bank. Firstly, the bank’s shares fell nearly 6% yesterday over concerns about its exposure to Greece. Secondly, even before outgoing co-CEO Anshu Jain has left, stones are being turned on the LIBOR affair and there are allegations that he “knowingly made inaccurate statements” to the Bundesbank. And thirdly, senior Deutsche staff are quitting – seemingly unexpectedly.
With luck, this could all be little to worry about. Deutsche Bank’s direct exposure to Greece is limited – at the end of January the German firm held just €298m ($332m) in Greek corporate and public debt. Anshu Jain has dismissed allegations that he misled the Bundesbank as “baseless”. And yesterday’s “shock” departure of Henrik Asklaksen, Deutsche’s global head of M&A for more than a decade, may have been foreseen by someone on Deutsche’s side. The Wall Street Journal points out that Asklaksen’s exit comes only one month after Deutsche hired Jeff Urwin, the former co-head of global banking at J.P. Morgan.
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