Deutsche Bank shares drop after report that some hedge funds have reduced exposure

Evelyn Cheng
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBK-DE) fell more than 6.5 percent in New York trading Thursday after a Bloomberg report said a small fraction of hedge funds that do derivatives business with the bank have cut their exposure.

Barry Bausano, chairman of Deutsche's hedge fund business, told CNBC there have been outflows, but also inflows, typical of the ebbs and flows of the business. He also said the prime brokerage was "still very profitable" for the bank and there's "no question we have a perception issue."

He couldn't speak on specific numbers or names of clients, but said Deutsche Bank has about 800 hedge fund clients.

"Our trading clients are amongst the world's most sophisticated investors," Deutsche Bank said in an emailed statement to CNBC. "We are confident that the vast majority of them have a full understanding of our stable financial position, the current macro-economic environment, the litigation process in the U.S. and the progress we are making with our strategy."

The Bloomberg report, citing one source and a review of an internal document, named Millennium Partners, Capula Investment Management and Rokos Capital Management as among the 10 hedge funds that have cut exposure, and pointed out that most of Deutsche Bank's derivatives clearing clients haven't made changes.

A source familiar with the matter at Capula told CNBC that it did pull some capital from Deutsche Bank, but said that it remains a prime brokerage client of the bank. Rokos had no comment. Millennium did not respond.

The Bloomberg report said some funds that clear derivatives trades with Deutsche Bank have withdrawn some excess cash and positions held at the lender. Most of the bank's more than 200 derivatives-clearing clients have not made changes, the news agency said.

Shares of Deutsche Bank have been under pressure , hitting all-time lows this week on mounting concerns about the survival of the German lender given the U.S. Department of Justice's demand for $14 billion in fines. Both the German government and Deutsche Bank representatives have repeatedly ruled out state aid, and analysts generally do not expect the government to rescue Deutsche for now .

The bank is undergoing a major restructuring effort led by CEO John Cryan.

The sharp decline in Deutsche Bank's shares dragged down financial stocks and the U.S. stock market on Thursday.

— CNBC's Wilfred Frost and Kate Kelly contributed to this report.



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