HAMLET, Shakespeare’s Danish prince, may blame “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” for his plight, but those watching often conclude that indecisiveness lies at the root of his troubles. Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest financial firm, faces lots of slings and arrows: a never-ending barrage of fines from American regulators, tough new rules on bank capital, a stagnant European economy and listless financial markets. Together, they have pummeled its prospects and punctured its share price. But the modern-day audience of investors, clients and policymakers are beginning to ask themselves whether Deutsche’s biggest problem is its failure to make difficult decisions.Deutsche’s story, thus far, is hardly a tragedy. But the bank is in an oddly fragile position. It is barely profitable, having earned only €681m ($901m) last year on assets of €1.6 trillion—a return of just 0.04%. Its shares are priced at 0.6 times the value of its tangible net assets, half the level of American titans such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, to which it considers itself a potential rival (see chart 1). Investors, it seems, do not. It is Europe’s third-biggest bank by tangible...
from The Economist: Finance and economics http://ift.tt/1p6kGq5
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