ROUNDUP 2: Deutsche Bank targeted by the judiciary for reporting suspected money laundering

(new: details on the background of the search, stock reaction)

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – Deutsche Bank has trouble with the judiciary because of suspected money laundering reports that may have been submitted too late. On Friday morning, investigators went to the Frankfurt headquarters of the Dax group (DAX 40) to look for evidence. According to the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, officials from the public prosecutor’s office, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the financial supervisory authority Bafin were involved. The background is a search warrant by the district court in Frankfurt. The authority initially did not want to give any further details “due to the ongoing investigative measures”.

Deutsche Bank announced that it was an investigative measure “in connection with reports of suspected money laundering that the bank had submitted”. The institute cooperates “fully with the authorities”. Beyond that, the bank declined to comment.

Bank employees are required by law to immediately report any suspicion that customers are attempting to launder money from criminal transactions or that transactions are related to the financing of terrorism. Such suspicious transaction reports often concern the correspondent banking sector. There, Deutsche Bank, with its global reach, helps other financial institutions to process payment transactions.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the investigators accuse Germany’s largest financial institution of having submitted the suspected money laundering reports too late, although there had already been suspicions earlier. The “Handelsblatt” reported, citing a person familiar with the searches, that the search was “about an individual case from the customer sphere”.

Deutsche Bank shares turned negative on Friday after the public prosecutor’s action became known. In the early afternoon, the paper was one of the biggest losers in the German share index with a drop of around three percent to just under EUR 9.33./ben/als/DP/stw