The US justice department has suggested that Deutsche Bank pay $14 billion to settle allegations around mortgage securities. The bank is negotiating on the amount. This has led to panic in the hedge fund markets and some see a comparison with the Lehman Brothers failure. Some of the funds pulled assets and forced the bank to step up reassurances about its stability. However, there is solace as Deutsche has a far more diversified client base, sourced from German retail banking and multiple institutional business lines. Also it has more liquidity, amounting to €220 billion ($246.8 billion) at the end of June, equal to 12% of assets, against the $45 billion Lehman had a month before its downfall, 7.5% of assets. More importantly, Deutsche has access to the European Central Bank and it can also convert hard-to-sell assets into cash if it needs to. Deutsche stocks have been falling.
