Virus forces Deutsche Bank to confront old fears on its strength

“This crisis is really terrible timing for Deutsche Bank, ” said Ingo Frommen, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart who has a hold recommendation on Deutsche Bank shares.

FRANKFURT: The mood at Deutsche Bank AG’s headquarters in Frankfurt was tense. It was late March, and clients were drawing down credit lines at such a rapid pace that the bank’s treasury department was on alert.

Liquidity never was an issue, according to a person familiar with the matter. But the episode, which also attracted the attention of the European Central Bank (ECB), underscored the still fragile health of the lender after five straight annual losses.