Deutsche Bank may report first loss in 5 yrs on Markdowns

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, may report its first quarterly loss in five years after writing down the value of loans for leveraged buyouts and asset-backed securities by ¤2.5 billion ($3.9 billion).

The bank will probably post a first-quarter net loss of ¤174 million tomorrow, after a profit of ¤2.12 billion a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Deutsche Bank sidestepped the worst of the sub-prime contagion because of early bets against the US housing market. UBS AG, the largest Swiss bank, recorded almost $36.7 billion of markdowns since July, while Credit Suisse Group last week posted its first loss since 2003 on 5.3 billion francs of writedowns in the first quarter.

"Deutsche Bank appears to have done better than its Swiss counterparts," said Thomas Koerfgen, a Frankfurt-based fund manager at SEB Asset Management, which oversees more than $15 billion, including Deutsche Bank shares.

"Good risk management and the push to expand retail banking and asset management are paying off." Deutsche Bank fell 12 per cent in the last six months in Frankfurt trading, compared with a 19 per cent drop in the 59-company Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index.

The Frankfurt-based bank, run by Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann, said April 1 it would book about 2.5 billion euros in markdowns in the quarter, bringing total losses to 4.8 billion EUROS since the start of last year.