Commerzbank's asset management business slumped deeply into the red in the first half of the year, amid difficult markets and heavy restructuring and staff retention costs.

The international operation, whose best known business is Jupiter International in the UK, lost €55m ($48.7m) in the six months to June compared with a pre-tax profit of €83m in the first half of 2000. The losses were reflected across much of Commerzbank's activities, contributing to an overall 73.9% fall in profits from last year's six month figure of €1.09bn.