Barclays, Deutsche Bank Fall Behind U.S. Peers Again in Trading

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc, reported declines in trading revenue that were worse than analysts had expected and exceeded falls at U.S. rivals, a sign that Europe’s biggest securities firms are further losing their grip.

Revenue from trading stocks and bonds at Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank slid 30 percent to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion), compared with the average decline of about 15 percent at the five biggest U.S. investment banks. London-based Barclays reported a fall of 31 percent to 977 million pounds, missing estimates from UBS Group AG and Jefferies Group LLC.

While the biggest banks have been expecting trading revenue to fall amid an industry-wide slump in volatility, worse-than-feared declines at Deutsche Bank and Barclays add to the challenges faced by respective chiefs John Cryan and Jes Staley. European banks have lost market share in trading to U.S. rivals as they struggle with management changes, shifts in strategy and legal battles.

Deutsche Bank said trading in credit and emerging-market products and equity derivatives was “significantly lower” than a year ago, while also citing declines in rates and currencies, a presentation shows. Barclays attributed the slump to similar businesses and also blamed the “integration” of unwanted assets from a non-core unit back into the investment bank, according to its presentation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Donal Griffin in London at dgriffin10@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen

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