Deutsche Bank has warned that it would post a first-quarter net loss after taking more than a billion euros in charges for the sinking value of investments.
Germany's largest bank said it expected to post a net loss of €200 million and a pre-tax profit of €225 million - well below market expectations - when it reports next Wednesday.
Many analysts had expected the bank to post a healthy profit, and Deutsche Bank said its underlying pre-tax profit, excluding the charges, would be €950 million.
The bank detailed charges of €1.25 billion, which will be partly offset by a €500 million gain from disposals. The charges are mainly due to the dwindling value of Deutsche's 34.5 percent stake in troubled German insurer Gerling.
Deutsche Bank has been trying to sell Gerling but suffered a blow at the start of the month when mutual insurer HDI broke off acquisition talks. The fresh write-down implies that the bank now values its stake at around zero.
The bank also wrote down the value of its 9 per cent stake in German engineering company mg technologies and its 2 per cent stake in Italy's Fiat and took goodwill charges on private equity investments.
Deutsche Bank shares traded down 1.7 per cent at 47.25 on Instinet before the main market opening.