There's an old proverb in the world of finance : “If you owe the bank thousands, then the bank owns you. If you owe the bank millions , then you own the bank.” In that case Donald Trump owns Deutsche Bank - and for the bank, that could be good thing. Deutsche Bank and Trump for years have been partners in fraud. But while the bank has had to pay $$billions in penalties for its misdeeds, ranging from illegally manipulating the LIBOR interest rate to selling worthless mortgage securities to unsuspecting investors, Donald Trump has never had to suffer any consequences (so far) for his fraudulent behavior. Indeed, the American voters (with the help of the Russian government) rewarded Trump with the presidency. Based on the information that has been disclosed, we know that - among the big banks - only Deutsche Bank was reckless enough to finance Trump's risky real estate ventures:

It is unlikely that Deutsche Bank will ever see repayment of any of these real estate loans, given Trump's creative use of the US bankruptcy code. But Trump's election is still the best thing that could have happened to the German banking giant. For Deutsche Bank is still under investigation by the US Dept. of Justice for other possible crimes and could face additional $billions in sanctions - or even lose its US banking license. Trump will most likely terminate these investigations. And John Cryan - DB's CEO - can rest easy now that Trump installing a know-nothing senator - Jeff Sessions - as the new US Attorney General. Here is Sessions at his confirmation hearing last week:

Senator Richard Blumenthal, for example, asked Sessions about the conflict presented by Trump’s multi-million dollar loan from Deutsche Bank, a bank that has been the subject of investigation by the current Justice Department for “creating and repackaging bad mortgage products.” As one news outlet has explained, the Justice Department has been trying to reach a settlement with Deutsche Bank, but if that settlement is not reached by January 20, “a federal government run by Trump will have to decide how hard to push the bank that Trump owes so much to and that has been critical to Trump’s fortunes.” Somewhat inexplicably, given the many, many stories about this issue, Sessions told Blumenthal that he wasn’t “aware of that case” and was “totally uninformed” about its merits.

In fact, Deutsche Bank now has a new lease on life in the US, and can look forward to joining forces with Trump's sons - slated to run the Trump empire - on new schemes, perhaps creating a kleptocracy to rival that of his friend Vladimir Putin (see Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha).