"Selling American assets" stirs up controversy, Bezent says Deutsche Bank CEO has denied their own analyst research report.

US Treasury Secretary Benet revealed on Wednesday that Deutsche Bank's CEO personally called to distance the German bank from a controversial analyst report. The report had previously implied that European investors may sell off US assets. Benet disclosed at the Davos World Economic Forum that Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing had contacted him to deny the findings of the bank's research analyst. "The view that Europeans will sell off US assets only came from one analyst at Deutsche Bank," Benet stated. "The CEO of Deutsche Bank called to say that the bank does not agree with the analyst's report." The controversial report was written by George Saravelos, the global head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank. In the report, Saravelos pointed out that the willingness of Europeans to hold US assets may decrease in light of President Trump's threats against Greenland. Saravelos believed that this rebalancing of dollar assets could limit the negative impact on the euro. Currently, European countries hold $8 trillion worth of US bonds and stocks, nearly twice the total of other regions in the world. Deutsche Bank's rare decision to distance itself from its own research report highlights the sensitivity of the topic, especially for a German bank with a large-scale business in the US. A Deutsche Bank spokesperson refused to confirm communication between Sewing and government officials to the media, but emphasized, "Deutsche Bank's research department works independently, so the views expressed in individual research reports do not necessarily represent the views of the bank's management." IG's Chief Market Analyst, Chris Beauchamp, expressed disappointment, stating, "It is very frustrating, firstly because the current government is so sensitive, and secondly because the bank does not support its own analysts." Saravelos' report indicated that some European institutions have begun reducing their dollar exposure. The Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, which manages around $25 billion in savings, announced on Tuesday plans to exit the US bond market by the end of the month, citing credit risks from the Trump administration policies. Paul Donovan of UBS Group wrote, "While media headlines focus on 'sell-off of the US,' this is misleading. The cause of financial crises is not the selling of existing debt, but the inflows of capital." "The collapse of the British Tralus and the Greek financial crisis were fundamentally about the source of funds. The reduction in inflows, not massive selling, is where the real risk lies. This difference is crucial for both the US (relying on foreign capital inflows) and Japan (domestic financing)."