(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG, Europes largest investment bank, dropped in Frankfurt trading after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was saidto have faulted the regulatory reports of some of the firms U.S. businesses last year.
The regulator sent the bank a letter in December saying a review of its U.S. operations found they suffer from inadequate oversight, Jordan Thomas, a lawyer at Labaton Sucharow LLP, representing a former Deutsche Bank employee who has accused the company of masking losses, said by phone from New York today. He declined to say how he came to see the letter, whose contents were first reported by the Wall Street Journal late yesterday.
Global banks are grappling with stricter compliance and reporting standards as regulators seek to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis as well as the market manipulation and other alleged wrongdoing of traders. Deutsche Bank has pledged to meet stricter capital requirements for foreign banks operating in the U.S. and plans to increase the number of compliance staff it has in the country. The shares slumped as much as 2.8%, the biggest intraday drop since July 10.
'REMEDIAL ACTION'
The size and breadth of errors strongly suggest that the firms entire U.S. regulatory reporting structure requires wide- ranging remedial action, Daniel Muccia, a New York Fed senior vice president who supervises Deutsche Bank, wrote in a Dec. 11 letter to the Frankfurt-based lender, according to the Journal. The letter said the company also hadnt made progress toward fixing lapses identified previously.
Michele Allison, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank in New York, said in a statement that the bank has been working diligently to further strengthen our systems and controls and are committed to being best in class. Germanys largest lender has said its investing 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in that effort and assigned 1,300 people to the program.
Andrea Priest, a spokeswoman for the New York Fed, declined to comment on the report and said she wouldnt make Muccia available for comment.
Deutsche Bank fell 0.5% to 26.52 euros as of 3:28 p.m. in Frankfurt. The Bloomberg Europe Banks & Financial Services Index rose 1%.
'ACCOUNTING ISSUE'
Its a slap on the wrist, said Shailesh Raikundlia, an analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank in London, who recommends selling the shares. Theres the possibility of a fine, but its more of an accounting issue really.
The U.S. has extracted almost $12 billion in fines in settlements with Frances BNP Paribas SA and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG since May. BNP Paribas admitted to violating U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Iran and Cuba while Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to helping Americans cheat on taxes.
Deutsche Bank plans to add about 500 people in compliance, risk and technology in the U.S. by year-end amid heightened regulator scrutiny, Jacques Brand, head of Deutsche Bank North America, said in an interview earlier this month. The lender will also continue to invest in technology and strengthening control functions, he said.
Thomas represents Eric Ben-Artzi, a former Deutsche Bank quantitative risk analyst, in a whistle blower claim against the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Ben-Artzi has accused the lender of masking losses by misrepresenting the value of derivatives from 2007 to 2010.
Deutsche Bank continues to reject those claims as false, said Ronald Weichert, a spokesman for the company in Frankfurt. He declined to comment on the state of the investigation.
WRONGFUL DISMISSAL
We have every reason to believe that the SEC and other authorities investigation of Ben-Artzis claims is still active, said Thomas, the chairman of Labaton Sucharows whistle blower representation practice.
He also said Ben-Artzis wrongful dismissal suit against Deutsche Bank has yet to conclude. The lawyer said he doesnt represent the former risk analyst in that matter.
Banks worldwide are under pressure to beef up regulatory compliance and are accelerating hiring in those divisions amid heightened scrutiny of their strength and probes into the manipulation of benchmark interest rates, the alleged rigging in currency markets and money laundering.
The complaints from regulators focus on data in quarterly regulatory filings from two of the U.S. divisions subsidiaries and the parent companys New York branch, the Journal wrote.
COLLATERAL VALUE
New York Fed examiners expressed concerns to Deutsche Bank about the quality of the data in 2002, 2007 and 2012, according to the newspapers account of the letter. In one example cited, examiners found Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas incorrectly assessed the value of collateral when reporting the value of loans in which borrowers were at risk of defaulting.
While meeting with two top U.S. executives in September, Fed officials described the firms reporting as the worst among its peers, the newspaper wrote, citing an e-mail from the company that it reviewed.
External auditor KPMG LLP also identified deficiencies in the way the banks U.S. operations reported financial data last year, according to the Journal. Robert Wade, a spokesman for the accounting firm, declined to comment.
Christopher Wheeler, an analyst at Mediobanca SpA in London, said the New York Feds criticism doesnt bode well for Deutsche Banks efforts to comply with tougher U.S. capital rules. The Federal Reserve is forcing the largest foreign banks to consolidate U.S. operations into one subsidiary and abide by the same capital and liquidity minimums as domestic peers.
Deutsche Bank has long been seen as one of the biggest and most worrying foreign banks in the U.S., given it had little capital physically located in the U.S., said Wheeler, who has a neutral recommendation on the shares. This shows that Deutsche Bank still has a lot of work to do.
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