The roll call of casualties from the merger between Deutsche and Dresdner reads like a who's who of German investment banking, with both banks losing key staff in advance of the now never-to-be formal union of the two banks.

Even on the day that the merger was aborted, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson (DrKB), the so-called jewel in Dresdner's crown, was still leaking staff. Lehman Brothers announced today it had hired a team of nine equity sales experts from Dresdner's Zurich office.