Deutsche Bank wants to cut ties with Donald Trump: report

Deutsche Bank AG reportedly wants to end its relationship with President Donald Trump after the U.S. presidential election in an attempt to quash negative publicity from its association with the developer-in-chief.

Deutsche Bank has about $340 million outstanding on three loans to the Trump Organization, Reuters reported, citing senior bank officials. In total, Deutsche Bank has loaned Trump over $2 billion.

The loans are backing Trump’s golf course in Miami, as well as hotels in Washington and Chicago. They’re personally guaranteed by the president and are current on their payments. The Trump Organization has only had to pay interest on the loans so far, and the entire principal is outstanding, two of the three bank officials told Retuers. The loans are due in 2023 and 2024.

The bank first started lending to Trump in the late 1990s and has come under scrutiny because of investigations over the President’s alleged connections to Russia. One senior executive called those probes into Trump’s business “serious collateral damage” for the bank, according to Reuters.

But the bank’s plan to sever ties with Trump may depend on the result of Tuesday’s elections. If Trump loses, senior Deutsche Bank executives believe that the investigations into Trump’s financial records could restart. Bank officials believe it would be easier to seek repayment or foreclose on the assets if he can’t pay off the loans. The bank could also try to sell the loans, according to two of the three bank officials Reuters spoke with.

Deutsche Bank could also seize the president’s assets if he could not repay the loans, since the president personally guaranteed the loans.

But if Trump wins, the bank may end up extending the loans until he leaves office for good, according to Reuters..

[Reuters] — Keith Larsen