The head of investment banking at Germany's Deutsche Bank on Tuesday said countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Greece were unlikely to default on their sovereign debt in 2011, although default risks generally will "remain a threat" to peripheral eurozone economies in the year ahead.

"Volatility will remain very high," said Anshu Jain, who is head of corporate and investment banking and a management board member at Deutsche Bank. He counts on "sensible resolutions" from regulators in the eurozone as concerns about sovereign defaults persist.