Shares of Deutsche Bank fell 8% at the start of the European trading session on Friday, amid capital concerns following a proposed settlement by the U.S. Department of Justice and a report that some hedge funds were reducing their exposure to the embattled bank. The German lender’s stock has been on wild ride in recent weeks and was trading near 10 euros a share on Friday morning, a new record low for its European-listed shares. The German DAX was down 1.7 percent and the banking sector in Europe was down 3 percent.
The latest slide followed reports that some hedge funds had taken out cash and withdrawn positions in its investment bank. Deutsche Bank has said it is confident most clients understand it is stable. The shares were down 8% at about 10.00 Euros in morning trading in Frankfurt. Investors are increasingly worried about the financial health of the bank, which faces a 14 billion dollars fine in the US for mis-selling mortgage-backed bonds before the financial crisis of 2008. The bank’s shares have been falling steadily from a recent high of 27.80 dollars last November, but at their peak in May 2007, before the start of the banking crisis, they were valued at almost 100 Euros. Deutsche’s woes hit bank shares across Europe, with Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland falling more than 4% at the start of trading in London. German rival Commerzbank was down about 5%, while Swiss, French and Italian banks were down by about the same amount.