DAB Bank, the German online brokerage owned by HVB Bank, believes it is close to breaking even in the first quarter of 2003, despite an operating loss of €243m ($258.5m) for 2002 and further falls in equity volumes.

The operating loss increased 6% on the 2001 loss of €229m. Jens Hagemann, a member of the DAB board, said the bank anticipated a pre-tax loss of between €500,000 and €1m. This would be a significant improvement on figures for the first quarter of 2002, in which the bank posted a pre-tax loss of €25.4m.