Jan 21 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Davos on Wednesday that Deutsche Bank’s chief executive had called him to say the bank did not stand by one of its analyst reports suggesting European investors may dump U.S. assets.
“This notion that Europeans would be selling U.S. assets came from a single analyst at Deutsche Bank,” Bessent told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting, adding that it had been amplified by “the fake news media”.
“The CEO of Deutsche Bank called to say that Deutsche Bank does not stand by that analyst report,” he said.
WALL STREET BANKS HAVE FACED PRESSURE FROM TRUMP
Wall Street banks have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who, last year, hit out at Goldman Sachs and its CEO David Solomon, saying the bank had been wrong to predict U.S. tariffs would hurt the economy, questioned whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution and criticised its research.
George Saravelos, Deutsche’s global head of FX research, in a Sunday note raised the possibility of European investors selling U.S. assets in response to President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on several European countries over Greenland.
“We generally do not comment on potential communication between the bank and government representatives,” a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added: “Deutsche Bank Research is independent in their work, therefore views expressed in individual research notes do not necessarily represent the view of the bank’s management.”
Saravelos did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
His Sunday note said European countries owned $8 trillion of U.S. bonds and equities.
“In an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the Western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part,” Saravelos wrote.
The euro has gained roughly 1% against the dollar so far this week, a move that many analysts have linked to the Greenland tariff threats. [FRX/]
U.S. Treasuries have sold off as well, though analysts say this was also a result of worries about U.S. finances more broadly, and dramatic tumbles by Japanese government bonds spilling over into global markets.
(Reporting by Ariane Luthi in Davos and Tom Sims in Frankfurt, writing by Alun John, editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Elisa Martinuzzi)
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