Deutsche Bank Back In US Regulators' Crosshairs

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has sharply criticized Deutsche Bank for "shoddy financial reporting." This assessment was first made public by the Wall Street Journal, which "ed a letter to the German lender.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) has grave concerns about Deutsche Bank's operations in the US, the Wall Street Journal "ed regulators as saying Wednesday.



In a letter to the German lender - apparently sent as early as December last year - the FRBNY described financial reports from some of Deutsche's US divisions as "low quality, inaccurate and unreliable."



It also accused the German lender of inadequate auditing and oversight, and spoke of shoddy financial reporting in general.



Crucial investments



"The size and breadth of errors strongly suggest that the firm's entire US regulatory reporting structure requires wide-ranging remedial action," the letter stated.



Deutsche Bank confirmed it was currently investing about 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) to upgrade its internal systems, including the quality of its financial reporting.



Germany's largest bank has been in the crosshairs of US regulators for some time for an array of issues, including investigations stemming from the financial crisis.



Earlier this week, a US Senate committee claimed Deutsche Bank and Barclays had been involved in helping hedge fund clients avoid taxes. Deutsche is also under investigation over alleged sanctions violations.



hg/cjc (Reuters, dpa)