Deutsche CEO says end of credit crisis near

ZURICH (Reuters) - The end of the credit crisis is getting closer and the U.S. real estate market should recover in the second half of the year, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) chief executive Josef Ackermann said in a newspaper interview.

"I think that we are getting closer to the end of the financial crisis," Ackermann told the Swiss Sunday newspaper Sonntagsblick. "It is not fully over yet, but the signs from the United States are encouraging.

Ackermann said that the pragmatic approach in the United States to resolve the crisis should start to pay off soon.

"We should feel the effects in the second half of the year already and see a strong recovery of the U.S. real estate market," he told the paper.

The fallout from U.S. households defaulting on home payments triggered the global crisis, leading to a squeeze in credit markets in Europe and the United States as banks stopped lending for fear of being exposed to the subprime problems.

Ackermann urged banks to draw the lessons from the crisis quickly.

"I am worried that otherwise governments step up regulations in a way that are harmful to our sector," he said.

(Reporting by Sven Egenter)