FRANKFURTâ€"Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, on Tuesday blamed the euro zone debt crisis for a plunge in earnings in the second quarter, saying that the turmoil made clients reluctant to trade in financial markets.
Net income fell 46 percent to 661 million euros, or $811 million, compared to the second quarter of 2011, the bank said. Deutsche Bank reported approximate earnings for the quarter last week, but gave more detail Tuesday.
Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, who have been sharing the job of chief executive since replacing Josef Ackermann in May, attributed the sag in profit and revenue to ‘‘a volatile environment.''
‘‘The European sovereign debt crisis continues to weigh on investor confidence and client activity across the bank,'' they said in a statement.
The investment banking division previously headed by Mr. Jain, which had been the most profitable unit until recently, suffered a 63 percent decline in pretax profit, to 35 7 million euros, the bank said.
Pretax profit at Deutsche Bank's retail banking operations, including its network of branches in Germany, fell 13 percent to 398 million euros. The German economy, which has been less affected by the debt crisis, has helped make retail banking a more reliable source of profit than investment banking.
The bank reiterated that a decline in the euro compared to the dollar led to an increase in operating expenses that also hurt profit. Bank revenue fell 6 percent to 8 billion euros.
The earnings report is the first under Mr. Jain and Mr. Fitschen, who in May replaced Mr. Ackermann after a decade as head of the bank.
