The Big Take
Deutsche Bank’s Nightmare Decade Is Gone, But Not Yet Forgotten
The firm is sparking some hope after years as the sick man of European finance.
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On the day before one of the biggest margin calls in history, Deutsche Bank AG chief Christian Sewing joined an urgent meeting with a not-unfamiliar message: there was a problem, and billions of dollars were at stake.
But as executives on the late-March call briefed him on the bank’s exposure to Archegos Capital Management, this time it wasn’t all bad news. Risk managers had been concerned by the family office’s rapid growth for some time, and had been collecting additional collateral. And the firm’s traders stood ready to quickly offload the slumping assets.