After 75 years, on the brink of ruin

In 1945, after 75 years in business, Deutsche Bank was on the brink of ruin. This anniversary year was very nearly the end of the bank. The post-War period proved to be the toughest in its history. The occupying forces either nationalized the banks for example in the Soviet zone - or allowed them to continue in operation in very modest form at federal state level. In 1947 and 1948 Deutsche Bank was broken up into ten banks, thereby briefly reviving at least the names of banks that had ceased to exist decades ago in the course of mergers. Banking under the name Deutsche Bank was forbidden.

It soon became clear that this state of affairs could not be maintained. After the formation of the Federal Republic, the bank was able to regroup in two stages, mainly thanks to the endeavours of Hermann J. Abs. In 1952 an interim solution was reached: Rheinisch-Westfalische Bank was set up in Dusseldorf, Suddeutsche Bank in Frankfurt and Munich, and Norddeutsche Bank in Hamburg. In 1957 they merged to form Deutsche Bank again.

The fifties were a time of major decisions in banking policy. Product policy played a relatively minor role. This changed at the end of the decade when the bank ventured into general retail banking. International issuing business became more important as Germany grew from a debtor into a creditor country. One milestone was the foreign-currency bond issued in 1958 for the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa, with which Deutsche Bank reopened the German bond market to foreign companies.