Deutsche Bank, the biggest bank in Germany, has issued a surprise warning that it expects a first quarter net loss of around €200m after writedowns of €1.2 billion.
The bank is due to unveil its full first quarter results next week, and had been widely expected to follow in the footsteps of its counterparts and report robust results.
Instead, although the full results will be delivered April 30, it issued a statement a week early saying that it expects a net loss of around €200m and pre-tax profits of around €225m.
The €1.2 billion charge is being only partially offset by a €500m gain due primarily to the sale of its Global Securities Services business.
The writedowns were made up of €625m on its equity investments, related mostly to insurer Gerling-Konzern Versicherungs-Beteiligungs AG, €400m on its equity portfolio, which includes Fiat and MG technologies, and another €200m in other areas.
