Deutsche Bank CEO Writes Memo To Employees, Blames “Speculators”, Confirms Liquidity Flight

Instead of doing what many have correctly suggested he should be doing, namely focusing on ways to raise more capital for the undercapitalized Deutsche Bank in order to stem the slow (at first) liquidity leak, first thing this morning CEO John Cryan issued another morale-boosting note to employees of Deustche Bank who have been watching their stock price crash to another record low, dipping under 10 in early trading for the first time ever. In the memo the embattled CEO worryingly did what Dick Fuld and other chief executives did when they felt the situation slipping out of control, namely blaming evil “rumor-spreading” shorts, saying “our bank has become subject to speculation. Ongoing rumours are causing significant swings in our stock price. … Trust is the foundation of banking. Some forces in the markets are currently trying to damage this trust.”
Just as important, Cryan confirms the Bloomberg report that “a few of our hedge fund clients have reduced some activities with us. That is causing unjustified concerns.” As we explained last night, the concerns are very much justified if they spread to the biggest risk-factor for the German bank: its depositors, which collectively hold over 550 billion in liquidity-providing instruments.
He then tries to sweep the concerns under the rug saying that “We should consider this in the context of the bigger picture: Deutsche Bank overall has more than 20 million clients.” Of course, however by the time the “context” switches over to the rest of the clients, or even a small portion of them, namely the depositors, it would be too late as by then the retail bank run will have begun.
Finally, Cryan confirms that there has been a liquidity outflow, when he says that the bank’s liquidity reserves currently “amount to more than 215 billion euros.” Considering just last night we estimated the liquidity reserves were 223 billion as of June 30, it appears there has been a modest outflow, even when accounting for the recent disposal of the British insurer Abbey Life.
In other words, Cryan once again fails to provide a clear plan how he will short up the bank’s deteriorating liquidity, no mention of a capital raise or approach of the ECB, and most importantly, no specifica plan how to recover crumbling trust in the world’s “most systematically important bank.”

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Sep 30, 2016.