Stress tests add pressure on European banks
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Two German lenders — Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank — look as vulnerable as the Italians. Deutsche’s plight should be of particular concern. Its shares are now worth barely a quarter of its book value. That is a twofold bind: proof that investors distrust the bank; and a practical block on being able to raise the equity needed to boost regulatory capital and absorb the cost of fines — over mortgage security abuses and misdemeanours in Russia...........................
When John Cryan was parachuted into Deutsche last year, he resisted expectations he would launch an aggressive rights issue. With US regulators preparing to specify the bank’s pending regulatory penalties, Mr Cryan was loath to “put a target on his back”, as a friend of his put it.
But, as the backdrop has deteriorated, and Deutsche’s position has weakened, that decision is starting to look short-sighted. So much so that investors are again pricing in a risk that the
bank’s coco (or contingent convertible) bonds will be bailed in. Nerves in Berlin are jangling, too — there is even talk among bankers of the German state having to stand behind an emergency rights issue.