The sale of Deutsche Bank's insurance unit in the UK, Abbey Life, is significant for more than the German bank's capital ratio. It also signals the almost complete retreat of banks from writing longevity swaps – a market they helped create and once hoped to profit greatly from.

Deutsche has sold the unit to Phoenix Life, a consolidator of closed insurance books, for £935 million, as part of a planned programme of disposals aimed at boosting its capital. John Cryan, Deutsche's chief executive, said in a statement: "We continue to build a simpler and better Deutsche Bank."