quarter earnings fall by around a third as Germany's largest bank suffered from the fallout from Europe's debt crisis. The bank said Thursday that its net profit in the first three months of the year fell to €1.4 billion ($1.85 billion) from €2.1 billion in the same quarter a year ago. The result failed to meet expectations and the company's share price slid 3.7 percent to €32.90 in morning trading in Frankfurt — the consensus in the markets was for a profit of around €1.65 billion. A more detailed look at the bank's statement shows that revenues fell 12 percent to €9.2 billion, with customers reluctant to trade at both the investment banking division, which earns money from doing deals and trading stocks and bonds, and at the retail end through the company's Postbank branch banking business. Revenues at the corporate and investment bank division, a key pillar of earnings, fell by 8 percent to €6.2 billion ($8.19 billion) in what it called “a far less favorable environment compared to the prior year quarter.” The division recovered somewhat from the turbulence that hit European markets in the second half of last year but that didn't match the same quarter a year ago.
