US property set to recover in H2: Deutsche CEO

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Published May 19, 2008

US property set to recover in H2: Deutsche CEO


(ZURICH) The end of the credit crisis is getting closer and the US real estate market should recover in the second half of the year, Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann said.

'I think that we are getting closer to the end of the financial crisis,' Mr Ackermann told the Swiss Sunday newspaper Sonntagsblick. 'It is not fully over yet, but the signs from the United States are encouraging.' He said that the pragmatic approach in the US to resolve the crisis should start to pay off soon. 'We should feel the effects in the second half of the year already and see a strong recovery of the US real estate market,' he said.

The fallout from US households' defaulting on home payments triggered the global crisis, leading to a squeeze in credit markets in Europe and the US as banks stopped lending for fear of being exposed to the sub-prime problems.

Mr Ackermann urged banks to draw lessons from the crisis quickly. 'I am worried that otherwise governments will step up regulations in a way that are harmful to our sector.'

In a separate interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, he said Deutsche was sticking to its target of making a pre-tax return on equity of 25 per cent over the business cycle. 'That is our goal. Even in 2007, half of which was a time of crisis, we made 26 per cent. Geograhically and with our broad range of products we are positioned outstandingly for the megatrends.'

Asked about possible acquisitions, he said: 'We do not feel pressured to act. We don't have to buy anything, so we are strong enough. We are among the best in the world in the areas where we do business, but of course that does not mean that we will let a good buying opportunity pass us by.' Deutsche Bank has flagged its interest in the German retail banking operations being put on the block by Citicorp and in Deutsche Postbank, which Deutsche Post is in the process of selling. -- Reuters

http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_238795.html

May 19, 2008

'CREDIT CRISIS ENDING SOON'

US property to rebound this year: Deutsche chief


ZURICH - THE end of the global credit crisis is getting closer and the United States real estate market should recover in the second half of the year, Deutsche Bank chief executive (CEO) Josef Ackermann said in a newspaper interview.

'I think that we are getting closer to the end of the financial crisis,' he told the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsBlick. 'It is not fully over yet, but the signs from the US are encouraging.'

He said the pragmatic approach being taken in the US to resolve the crisis should start to pay off soon.

'We should feel the effects in the second half of the year already and should see a strong recovery of the US real estate market,' he told the paper.

His comments add to growing optimism among analysts who say the worst might be over for the US economy, even if it still struggles for some time because of weak housing, tight credit and high energy costs.

The latest data suggests the world's largest economy might have averted a calamitous downturn and could even escape a recession, by the most common definition, Agence France-Presse reported.

'Remarkably, the economy has been able (barely) to keep its head above water despite all the negative shocks - a testament to its underlying resiliency, an aggressive policy response and the relative strength of global growth,' said Mr Josh Feinman, the chief economist with Deutsche Bank's DB Advisors.

He predicts the US economy, which saw sluggish growth at a 0.6 per cent pace in the past two quarters, will grow 1 per cent for the second quarter and 2 per cent for the July to September quarter.

But Mr Paul Kasriel, the director of economic research at Northern Trust, cautions against reading too much into recent data.

'Any blue skies you see are likely to be short-lived. The economy is in the relative calm of the eye of the business-cycle hurricane. The mortgage credit problems are not over. And credit problems in other sectors are just beginning as the housing recession spreads to the rest of the economy.'

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE