Italy’s PM Unloads On Deutsche Bank’s Unfixable Problem: “Hundreds And Hundreds Of Billions Of Derivatives”

 

After a tumultuous week for Deutsche Bank which saw the DOJ demand a $14 billion settlement for the bank’s past RMBS transgressions, it was another bad day for the giant German lender, whose stock and contingent converts tumbled after the investing community realized that even a modest $5.5 billion final settlement would leave it perilously undercapitalized and likely scrambling to raise more cash.

As SocGen’s Andrew Lim calculated, Germany’s biggest bank would be “significantly undercapitalized” even if an eventual settlement with the DoJ can be covered by the bank’s reserves. Any settlement above €5.4 billion would imply a capital increase is needed just to pay the fine, he wrote.

Why are so many bankers committing suicide?

Nothing has changed since 2013 except the coverage. More bankers getting ‘suicided’ is expected as the economy takes a turn for the worst, corruption gets buried and large financial losses go punished.

The dead banker list reloaded:

 

David Rossi, 51, a communications director at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, fell three stories from the bank’s Italian headquarters in March 2013. Photo: Reuters

 

 

Three bankers in New York, London and Siena, Italy, died within 17 months of each other in 2013-14 in what authorities deemed a series of unrelated suicides. But in each case, the victim had a connection to a burgeoning global banking scandal, leaving more questions than answers as to the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

The March 6, 2013 death of David Rossi — a 51-year-old communications director at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank — came as the institution teetered on the brink of collapse.

Rossi was found dead in an alleyway beneath his third-floor office window in the 14th-century palazzo that served as the bank’s headquarters.

A devastating security video shows Rossi landing on the pavement on his back, facing the building — an odd position more likely to occur when a body is pushed from a window.

‘Yes he killed himself. But there’s a question: could it be suicide by extortion… There’s a couple suspicions I have.’

 – Val Broeksmit, on his stepfather’s suicide

The footage shows the three-story fall didn’t kill Rossi instantly. For almost 20 minutes, the banker lay on the dimly lit cobblestone, occasionally moving an arm and leg.

As he lay dying, two murky figures appear. Two men appear and one walks over to gaze at the banker. He offers no aid or comfort and doesn’t call for help before turning around and calmly walking out of the alley.