Deutsche Bank posts historic loss, rejects state aid

Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, on Thursday posted its first annual loss since World War II after a terrible fourth quarter but vowed to survive the financial downturn without state aid.
Chairman Josef Ackermann told reporters the bank did not require official assitance would pull out of the banking crisis on its own.
A Deutsche Bank statement said it had made a net loss of 3.9 billion euros (5.0 billion dollars) in 2008, a figure that reached 4.8 billion in the fourth quarter alone.
In 2007, Deutsche Bank had reported a record profit of 6.5 billion euros.
While other major German banks have benefited from a government rescue plan for the sector, Ackermann told a press conference: "We want Deutsche (Bank) to succeed in pulling out of this crisis by itself."
Ackermann added that he saw no "dramatic" risks in the bank's accounts.
The statement had quoted him earlier as saying that "operating conditions in the (fourth) quarter were completely unprecedented and exposed some weaknesses in our business model.”