Deutsche Bank Posts First Loss Since WW II

Breitbart
Deutsche Bank posts first loss since WWII, rejects state aid
Feb 5 09:12 AM

Germany's biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, on Thursday posted its first annual loss since World War II after a terrible fourth quarter but said it would survive the global meltdown without state aid.

Chairman Josef Ackermann said the bank did not require government assistance and would pull out of the financial crisis on its own.

Deutsche Bank reported a net loss of 3.9 billion euros (5.0 billion dollars) for 2008 after a massive loss of 4.8 billion euros in the fourth quarter alone. For 2007, Deutsche Bank have posted a record profit of 6.5 billion euros....

Ackermann added that he saw no "dramatic" risks in the bank's accounts.

In a statement earlier, he said "operating conditions in the (fourth) quarter were completely unprecedented and exposed some weaknesses in our business model.

He acknowledged being "very disappointed" at the quarterly figures but said that "since the trust and support of our shareholders is critical for us, we recommend a dividend for the year 2008 of 50 cents per share."

...Ackermann said he remained committed to the bank's business model, which is focused on investment banking, a once lucrative field in which Deutsche Bank is one of the global leaders.

The sector has suffered sustained turmoil since mid-2007 when the US subprime or higher risk home loan market collapsed, undercutting the derivative investment instruments which had been linked to it by the banks...

For the full year 2008, Deutsche Bank revised the total value of its assets lower by 7.0 billion euros, more than three times the 2007 write-downs of 2.3 billion euros.

In the fourth quarter alone, asset write-downs amounted to 5.3 billion euros.

New Hampshire HCR 6 Status - Hearing in Committee Tomorrow

HCR6 Session Year 2009

Bill Text Title: Affirming States' Rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

G-Status: HOUSE
House Status: IN COMMITTEE
Senate Status:

Next/Last Comm: HOUSE STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONS AND VETERANS AFFAIRS
Next/Last Hearing: 02/05/2009 at 01:00 PM LOB 203

New Hampshire HCR 6 Text

SP Futures Hourly Chart at 2:45 PM

Cisco and Visa after the bell.

January Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Goldman Sachs Would Like to Pay Back Their TARP Money ASAP

Apparently this new rule about caps on executive pay was a motivation to choose other venues.

There are plenty of other feedbags from the Fed for a newly christened commercial bank, and the Fed is more tolerant of highly paid management.


Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Would Like to Pay Back TARP Money, Viniar Says
By Christine Harper

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which took $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury in October, would like to pay back the money from the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, said David Viniar, the firm’s chief financial officer.

“It would send a very good signal” if the firm could repay the money, he said. The firm would only do so if it got “the blessing” of the Treasury and Federal Reserve, he said at a Credit Suisse conference in Naples, Florida today.

Under current rules, Goldman and other firms that received money under TARP are required to raise common or preferred equity to replace the government funds, Viniar said. The company will consider raising money “if the markets are good,” he said.

The government investment “is not really restricting the way we do business,” Viniar said.

Goldman will also be “very cautious” about considering any acquisitions because there’s a longer record of unsuccessful deals in the financial services industry than successful ones, Viniar said. He said the firm is likely to maintain its current business of focusing on corporate and institutional clients rather than entering the retail business.

“I would not pick up the Wall Street Journal every morning looking for the big Goldman Sachs acquisition because I think you will be disappointed,” he said. “We don’t really like or know the retail business and I don’t expect that to change too much.”