Deutsche Bank reports first loss in five years (AP)  (29-04-2008)

BERLIN (AP) -- Deutsche Bank AG joins the ranks of credit crunch victims after reporting writedowns of €2.7 billion (US$4.2 billion) during the first quarter, which has forced Germany's biggest bank to its first quarterly loss since 2003.

The writedown and losses are minimal compared to other banks, such as UBS, and it should be noted that Deutsche Bank gave fair warning to markets, saying it expected at least euro2.5 billion in write-downs in the first quarter, slightly less than what it reported. To date, Deutsche Bank has had to write down approximately euro5 billion (US$7.8 billion).

The Frankfurt-based bank lost euro141 million (US$220.4 million) in the first quarter compared with a euro2.1 billion profit a year earlier. However, it still beat expectations because the net loss was lower than the euro235 million (US$367.3 million) figure that analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires were expecting.

Deutsche Bank shares were down 1.4 percent to euro75.70 (US$118.30) in Frankfurt trading.

Of the euro2.7 billion, some euro1.77 billion affected leveraged finance loans and loan commitments, while another euro885 million was for commercial real estate and residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS.

Source AP