By blaming 'industry challenges', Deutsche Bank is clutching at straws | Nils Pratley

Bank that once seemed to have beaten big US rivals at their own game is a national embarrassment

Little more than a decade ago, Deutsche Bank seemed to have achieved the remarkable feat of beating the big Wall Street banks at their own game. Germany's biggest financial institution, fuelled by an acquisition spree, a long bull market and willingness to pay fat bonuses, owned one of the world's top five investment banks.

Its rise looked natural and inevitable. Why wouldn't the biggest bank in the eurozone's biggest economy be able to compete with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and outmuscle Barclays, the UK's would-be investment banking champion? In the summer of 2007, just before the arrival of the global financial crisis, Deutsche's share price reached a110.

Related: What went wrong at Deutsche Bank?