Top Firm Eyes Costs As Investment Banking Unit Posts $2.5bn Loss

Bloomberg reports that Deutsche Bank posted its first quarterly loss in 5 years Tuesday, after taking some $4.2bn in writedowns related to leveraged buyouts and asset-backed securities. The bank as a whole posted a loss of $205m, whilst the investment banking unit, which last year brought in almost half of the firm's earnings, lost $2.5bn in the first period.

Deutsche CEO Josef Ackermann ominously warned: 'We remain rigorous in controlling costs and monitoring investment spending. We are redeploying both human and capital expenditure towards growth businesses and regions'. Ackermann said that 'in the month of March, pressure on the banking sector was more intense than at any time since the current credit downturn began', and warned risk positions over at the investment bank may continue to take a bashing from 'ongoing market dislocations and illiquidity in the credit markets'.

Finally, The Times reports that JWM Partners, the hedge fund founded by former Long Term Capital Management man John Meriwether, is said to be axing staff. The firm's flagship $1bn Relative Value Opportunity fund was said to have down some 32% as at the end of March.