The ratings on Deutsche Bank AG are supported by its strong franchise in its global capital markets businesses, good performance in global transaction banking, a stable management team, and consistent strategy. These strong points are partly offset by relatively small and declining contributions to pretax income from the bank's private clients and asset management division, high dependence on wholesale funding, and vulnerability to the volatile cycles of the capital markets in the securities trading and underwriting business lines. Deutsche Bank, one of the world's largest financial institutions with €1.5 trillion in assets at year-end 2009, maintains one of the largest trading books in the global industry. It suffered substantial mark-to-market losses from the collapse of financial markets in the second
