Deutsche Bank rebounds as fears ease over European banks

Shares of Deutsche Bank rebounded early on Monday morning — easing fears for the shaky European banking system following a slight drop in the cost of insuring the lender’s debt against default.

Deutsche Bank stock was trading as high as 4.4% in the green on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s DAX index on Monday.

Other European banking stocks also saw gains on Monday — prompting a sigh of relief from jittery observers.

European shares opened higher Monday, with German lender Commerzbank AG up 2.4% and BNP Paribas up 1.2%.

Deutsche Bank shares fell 8.5% on Friday after the cost of its five-year credit default swaps — the insurance that debtholders pay for in order to guard against potential default — rose to 200 basis points.

The sharp increase prompted analysts to wonder whether Deutsche Bank was the next financial lender that needed to be rescued — similar to Swiss giant Credit Suisse, which was acquired by its longtime rival UBS for a bargain price of $3.2 billion.

But Wall Street analysts and German officials dismissed concerns over Deutsche Bank’s stability.

“Deutsche Bank has thoroughly modernized and reorganized its business and is a very profitable bank,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after a European Union summit in Brussels.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Dow futures were up more than 230 points before the opening bell on Wall Street on Monday after First Citizens stepped in to acquire a large chunk of failed lender Silicon Valley Bank.

First Citizens will pay a discount of $16.5 billion to assume control over $72 billion worth of SVB’s deposits and loans, according to an announcement by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

But the FDIC will maintain receivership over some $90 billion in securities and other assets.

Since the collapse of SVB earlier this month, the FDIC placed all deposits under the control of a “bridge bank” to protect customers.

“The 17 former branches of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association, will open as First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company on Monday, March 27, 2023,” the FDIC statement said Monday.

“Customers of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association, should continue to use their current branch until they receive notice from First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company that systems conversions have been completed to allow full–service banking at all of its other branch locations.”

Two days after the fall of SVB, New York-based Signature Bank was seized by regulators in the third-largest bank failure in the US.

In both cases, the government agreed to cover deposits, even those that exceeded the federally insured limit of $250,000, so depositors were able to access their money.

New York Community Bank agreed to buy a significant chunk of Signature Bank in a $2.7 billion deal a week ago, but the search for a buyer for SVB took longer.

Nasdaq-traded shares of First Citizen jumped 12.4% to $654.95 in premarket trading on Monday.

Shares in mid-sized San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which serves a similar clientele as SVB and had appeared to be facing a similar crisis, surged 24.3% in premarket trading.

First Republic was the recipient of a $30 billion rescue package put together by 11 of the country’s largest lenders after its shaky balance sheet prompted worries it would be the next bank to fall.

With Post wires