Analysts fear Deutsche Bank could become Europe’s Lehman Brothers
The misery for Deutsche Bank continued this morning as shares continued to slide to fresh record lows.
The German lender has seen its share price lose 30 per cent in the last three weeks and was hit by a new round of selling this morning, as shares dropped 3.3 per cent to €10.20 (£8.86).
The latest slide takes the firm's market capitalisation, at just £14.1bn, to a new record low since it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001, and its worst valuation since the mid-1980s.
The fall has raised the prospect of a rights issue to raise emergency cash, though the German government has ruled out a state-backed bailout. A number of analysts compared the state of Deutsche Bank to Lehman Brothers in late 2008 – whose collapse ultimately kick-started the global financial crisis.
David Buik, City grandee and market commentator at Panmure Gordon said: "The plight of Deutsche Bank could have far reaching ramifications. The banking sector took stick globally with HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Lloyds and Standard Chartered shedding £23bn in value yesterday.
"This is not good news for the economy. It would be a greater catastrophe than Lehman Brothers."
Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets added: "There is a fear that Deutsche Bank is setting up as Europe’s Lehman Brothers moment. US banks have been taking advantage of the difficulties in the European banking sector by taking market share but trouble at a multinational with a big presence in US capital markets like Deutsche Bank carries huge counterparty risk."
