Deutsche Bank’s retreat ends European hopes of conquering Wall Street

IN THE 1980SUBS RBS the first of what was to become a procession of European banks began an assault on Wall Street. Credit Suisse bought First Boston in 1988. Deutsche Bank swallowed Bankers Trust a decade later. After the turn of the century, ,, Barclays and others also waved their chequebooks. The motive was partly to follow customers as business globalised, but also defensive: a response to American rivals’ charge into Europe.This week Europe’s dream of going toe to toe with homegrown investment banks in the world’s deepest capital market came to a shuddering end with the capitulation of Deutsche Bank. Its overdue restructuring will involve 18,000 job losses, mostly in London and New York. The retreat is a humiliation for a bank that once signalled a desire to knock Goldman Sachs off the top of global investment-banking league tables. Before the financial crisis Deutsche was the biggest-spending and brashest of bulge-bracket firms. In 2007 it was in second place, snapping at Goldman’s heels. Now it languishes outside the top five—and it may have farther to fall.