Feb. 5 (UPI) — Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, apologized in full-page ads in the nation’s largest newspapers for “serious errors” that “not only cost us money, but also our reputation and trust.”
The bank lost $1.5 billion in 2016 and already paid out $5.4 billion in legal cases from the last several years, according to the ad, which ran Saturday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and was signed by CEO John Cryan on behalf of the bank’s top management.
Cryan blamed the situation on the “misconduct of a few” employees. He said the bank leadership will “do everything in our power to prevent these events from re-occurring.”
Cyan, who became co-CEO with Anshu Jain in 2015 and sole CEO last year, expressed “our deep regret” that “the conduct of the bank didn’t follow our standards” in relation to the U.S. mortgage business between 2005 and 2007.
In December, Deutsche Bank agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department related to its dealings with subprime bonds featuring risky home loans between 2005 and 2007. A global financial crisis developed because of losses on these bonds packaged and sold by major banks.
About 7,000 separate lawsuits and regulatory cases against the Frankfurt-based bank remain active.
Other misconduct cases involved rigging interest benchmarks with other banks.
Last week, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $630 million to the United States in penalties for its involvement in a $10 billion Russian money-laundering scheme. The scheme involved Deutsche Bank’s New York, Moscow and London branches. The bank was fined an additional $204 million by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.
