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By Madeleine Nissen
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRS
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (DB) won't complete its acquisition of ABN Amro's commercial banking assets in the Netherlands this year, a top executive from the bank said Monday.
"Closing won't happen this year," Juergen Fitschen, management board member and head of regional management at Deutsche Bank, said at a conference in Frankfurt.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank by market capitalization, reached a preliminary agreement last week with the Dutch Finance Ministry to acquire parts of state-owned ABN Amro's commercial banking operations.
Fitschen said Deutsche Bank will begin expanded operations in Romania next year. He said there are still potential in emerging market economies, where revenue has jumped 42% since the start of 2009. Fitschen said he didn't rule out further acquisitions in Romania, even if none are planned at the moment.
The first half of next year will be difficult in general for banks, he added.
"We won't emerge from the crisis without pain, and that goes for everyone," he said.
But Deutsche Bank is well positioned to weather any non-performing loans resulting from the crisis, and therefore Fitschen said he doesn't expect any serious impact on the bank.
Company Web site: www.db.com
-By Madeleine Nissen; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 515; william.launder@dowjones.com