May 10, 2016
German financial watchdog Bafin praised improvements at Deutsche Bank under chief executive John Cryan on Tuesday but a source close to the regulator said it was looking into money-laundering allegations involving bank clients in Russia.
“We see the bank as fully on the right track,” Bafin’s banking supervision head, Raimund Roeseler, told the regulator’s annual news conference.
“The bank initiated appropriate measures to resolve the problems that we identified,” he added.
However, Bafin has started an audit following suspicions that surfaced last year of money laundering involving Deutsche Bank clients in Russia, a source close to the regulator said. “If these sorts of accusations are in the air, we don’t just sit in the gallery and watch; we do something of course,” Roeseler said, when asked if Bafin was investigating the Russian allegations.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Bafin and British watchdog FCA have criticised Deutsche Bank’s control systems to prevent money laundering and other illegal business practices, but the lender has been working to tackle problems there, too, Bafin President Felix Hufeld said.