Now, Deutsche Bank under US lens

NEW YORK: After Standard Chartered Bank, government agencies in the US are investigating dealings of Deutsche Bank and many other global banks over accusations of funnelling billions of dollars through their branches in New York for sanctioned nations like Iran and Sudan, a media report said. The investigation into Deutsche Bank is the latest in a series of cases against global financial firms since 2009, a report in the New York Times said.

Earlier this week, Global banking giant Standard Chartered agreed to pay $340 million to New York’s top banking regulator, settling allegations that it hid about 60,000 transactions worth $250 billion with the Iranian government and exposing the US financial system to terrorists, weapon dealers and drug kingpins.

It suggests the practice of transferring money on behalf of Iranian banks and corporations flourished under a loophole in US policy that ended in 2008, the report added.

A spokesman for the German Bank said it had decided in 2007 to “not engage in new business with counter-parties in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea and to exit existing business to the extent legally possible” . According to law enforcement officials, the investigation into Indian-origin Anshuman Jain-led Deutsche Bank is still in its very early stages, the daily said.

“So far, there is no suspicion that the bank moved money on behalf of Iranian clients through its American operations after 2008,” the officials said in the report.

However, the recent clash between New York’s top banking regulator and federal authorities against Standard Chartered could complicate the investigations, it said.

“The US prosecutors worry that the $340 million settlement between the New York regulator, Benjamin M Lawsky, and Standard Chartered sends a message to international banks and regulators that American authorities are uncoordinated and torn by divisions — since Lawsky acted alone in levelling the charges and settling the case,” the report said. Prosecutors also worry that foreign banks and regulators would no longer easily cooperate in handing over key transaction data that reveal the parties behind the global movement of tainted money, it added.

Since 2009, the justice department, the treasury department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office have brought charges against five foreign banks. The cases against the five banks included deferred prosecution agreements and required thebanks — ABN Amro, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Lloyds and ING — to forfeit a substantial amount of assets, it said.

(PTI)