HVB Group trimmed its losses last year, but restructuring charges and provisions for bad loans dragged Germany's second biggest bank into the red for the third year in a row. It confirmed it will cut up to 2,400 jobs.

Operating profits from HVB's corporates and markets division, which includes capital markets and investment banking, fell from €1bn in 2003 to €827m last year after a 63% slump in profits from markets wiped out gains from corporate business.