Deutsche Bank CEO Signals Recession Risks On Germany, Europe

Deutsche Bank AG's DB CEO Christian Sewing warned that China was a considerable risk for Germany and that Europe needed big banks to stave off competition from U.S. banks, Reuters reported.

Sewing added that Germany would "no longer be able to avert a recession" after it became too dependent on Russian energy.

Speaking at a banking conference in Frankfurt, Sewing said Europe had learned how dangerous it was to be "too dependent on individual countries or regions."

He also said Germany must now face the "awkward question" of dealing with China, given its "increasing isolation and growing tensions."

"Reducing this dependency will require a change no less fundamental than decoupling from Russian energy," Sewing said.

UniCredit SpA's UNCFF Chief Executive Andrea Orcel added to the economic concern saying Europe faced a "relatively shallow" recession followed by a rebound in 2024 or later. 

He agreed that European banks lacked scale and that consolidation would happen eventually.

"Size counts in banking – and if we don't want to hand over the playing field to the Americans, Europe must create the right conditions for big banks," he said.

"The dominance of American banks is no law of nature," he added. According to UniCredit's Orcel, "too much" domestic consolidation is not good as it doesn't create the "plumbing of financial services" to support the economy.

Price Action: DB shares are down 2.07% at $8.06 during the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay