Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse Finalize Securities Mortgage Securities Fraud Settlements with the DOJ Are Now Final and JPMorgan Resolves for $55M Case Accusing Bank of Working With Racist Brokers

Published on: January 18, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The mortgage securities fraud deal arrived at between Deutsche Bank (DB) and the Department of Justice is now final. As part of the settlement, the German lender will pay a $3.1B civil penalty and $4.1B in relief to borrowers, homeowners, and others that were impacted because it purportedly misled investors about the mortgage securities it was selling before the housing market failed.

Although the agreement was announced last month, the details of the resolution have just been released to the public. This includes information that as far back as May 2006, a Deutsche Bank supervisor had cautioned one of the firm’s senior traders about one mortgage lender that had become too lax with its underwriting practices.

In a Statement of Facts that was part of the agreement, Deutsche Bank acknowledged that it was aware that it was not fully disclosing the risks involved with the loans that it was bundling and selling. Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan issued a written statement apologizing “unreservedly” for the bank’s conduct. Cryan said that Deutsche Bank now has better standards in place.

Mortgage Fraud Settlements Reached With Deutsche Bank for $7.2B, Credit Suisse for $5.3B

Published on: December 24, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US government has arrived at multibillion-dollar settlements with Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) and Deutsche Bank AG (DB) to settle allegations involving toxic securities. It also has filed a separate lawsuit against Barclays (BARC) over its alleged sales of toxic mortgage-backed securities.

In the Deutsche Bank case, the US Justice Department had sought $14B to settle allegations that the bank sold investors toxic mortgage securities. Now, the German lender will have to pay $3.1B immediately. It has promised to pay $4.1B over five years to a US consumer relief fund. However, Deutsche Bank remains under investigation by US and UK regulator over suspect trades involving Russian stock, foreign exchange rate rigging, precious metal-related price violations, and alleged violations of US sanctions against number of countries, including Iran.

In the settlement with Credit Suisse, the bank will pay a $2.48B penalty and $2.8B in relief to communities and homeowners impacted by the drop in home prices during the financial crisis. The consumer relief will be paid over five years.

Deutsche Bank Ends Dark Pool Probe with $37M Settlement to the NY AG and the SEC, as well as a $3.25M Fine to FINRA

Published on: December 15, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Deutsche Bank AG (DB) has agreed to pay $37M to conclude the US government probes into its handling of trades in dark pool trading venues. The German bank also admitted that between 1/2012 and 2/2014 traders were misled about the way the it ranked its SuperX dark pool and other trading venues. The government settlements were reached with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General. Meantime, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Deutsche Bank $3.25M, noting “deficient disclosures” involving dark pool trading.

According to the NY AG and the SEC, Deutsche Bank told investors that it ranked its dark pools according to a number of factors, including transaction costs. However, some its technology purportedly wasn’t functioning correctly which means that the order-routing choices were not organized according to the factors noted. The German bank also is accused of disregarding its own method for ranking dark pools and placing its own dark pool in a preferred tier.

The government believes that between 1/2012 and 2/2013, Deutsche Bank employed outdated dark-pool rankings to decide how to route orders rather than updating its ranking model on a regular basis.The bank discovered the technical glitch in 2013, but did not fully correct the issue and waited until the following year to notify clients.

Investors of $7.7B NovaStar Mortgage-Backed Securities Can Move Forward with Fraud Claims Against Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, and RBS Securities

Published on: November 10, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In New York, US District Judge Deborah A. Batts has certified a class of investors to go ahead with fraud claims that they’ve brought against Wells Fargo (WFC), RBS Securities (RBS), and Deutsche Bank (DB). The banks underwrote $7.7B of NovaStar mortgage-backed securities. The lead plaintiff in the MBS fraud case is the New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund. Wells Fargo Advisors LLC was previously Wachovia Capital Markets.

The plaintiffs contend that the defendant banks lied in the securities’ offering documents. Judge Batts held that the fundamental question at issue is whether the bank did, in fact, make the allegedly misleading or materially false statements.

NovaStar issued six residential mortgage backed-securities that the banks underwrote in 2006. These RMBS collectively held over $7.7B in assets. By mid-2009, in the wake of the housing collapse, over half the mortgages backing the securities had defaulted. Investors sustained major losses.

The New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund, which sued not just the banks in 2008 but also subprime lender NovaStar and credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, had invested $100K in one of the securities. The credit raters are no longer defendants in the case as the claims against them from this mortgage-backed securities case were dismissed in 2011. Because NovaStar’s successor has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the case against the subprime lender has been stayed.

Nomura To Pay Over $3M to Settle RMBS Fraud Claims brought by NCUA for Credit Unions

Published on: November 2, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Nomura Home Equity Loan, Inc. and Nomura Asset Acceptance Corporation have agreed to jointly pay over $3M to settle allegations that they engaged in the sale of faulty residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to the Western Corporate Federal Credit Union and the U.S. Central Federal Credit Union. The National Credit Union Administration brought the RMBS fraud case on behalf of the two corporate credit unions.

It was in 2011 that the NCUA Board, while serving as liquidating agent for both financial institutions, brought the claims against the Nomura entities. The RMBS lawsuit was brought in federal district courts in Kansas and California.

The $3M settlement dismisses NCUA’s pending cases against the two firms. By settling, neither firm is denying or admitting to the alleged wrongdoing.

Deutsche Bank Settles Silver Rigging Allegations for $38M

Published on: October 24, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Deutsche Bank (DB) has agreed to pay $38M to settle a securities lawsuit alleging that it colluded with other banks to manipulate silver prices. According to Reuters, this agreement could compel other banks that have been accused of the same misconduct to settle.

According to the complaint, investors are accusing the German lender, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), and HSBC Holdings (HSBC) of fixing silver prices. They purportedly did this during a secret meeting conducted daily known as the Silver Fix. The silver manipulation scam allegedly began in 2009 and the alleged colluders suppressed prices on about $30B of silver financial instruments and silver that were traded annually. As a result of the alleged silver manipulation scam, banks were purportedly able to make returns that could exceed 100 percent annualized.

Investors claim that UBS AG (UBS) exploited the silver rigging. However, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed the Swiss lender from the case. She said that even if UBS profited from the silver manipulation there was no evidence provided to show that the Swiss bank had rigged prices.

Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, and Neuberger Berman Grapple with 401K lawsuits

Published on: October 18, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A plaintiff who is a participant in Wells Fargo’s 401(K) plan is suing the bank. The individual claims that the company’s cross-selling scandal has caused its stock price to drop significantly and this has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to the retirement plan.

It was just last month that regulators imposed a $185M fine on Wells Fargo for setting up 2.1 million credit card accounts and unauthorized deposits for banking customers so as to satisfy sales quotas. Some employees allegedly set up debit cards for customers without their knowledge, even assigning them PIN numbers.

Although Wells Fargo is settling with the Los Angeles City Attorney, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it is not denying or admitting to the allegations.

Deutsche Bank Reaches $9.5B Settlement With the SEC For Not Properly Safeguarding Information

Published on: October 12, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Deutsche Bank Securities (DB) will pay a $9.5B penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for not properly safeguarding material nonpublic research information. Even though it is settling, Deutsche Bank is not denying or admitting to the findings.

According to the regulator, Deutsche Bank urged its equity research analysts to communicate often with trading personnel, sales staff, and customers, but it did not have in place the proper procedures and policies to stop analysts from disclosing certain information, such as analyses and views that hadn’t been published yet, estimate changes, trading day squawks, short-term trading recommendations, non-deal road shows, and idea dinners. The SEC’s order also found that the bank had put out a research report that had a “BUY” rating for Big Lots, the discount retailer, but that the rating did not line up with the perspective of the analyst who had prepared and certified it as accurate.

This particular individual, analyst Charles Grom, had told others that the discount retailer should have gotten a downgrade. Grom was eventually charged by the SEC with certifying a stock rating in a manner that was not consistent with his own views. He settled the charges with a suspension from the securities industry and by agreeing to pay a $100K penalty.

Deutsche Bank and DOJ Still In Negotiations Over Mortgage-Backed Securities Case

Published on: September 16, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Deutsche Bank (DB) and the U.S. Department of Justice have yet to reach a settlement over allegations about the way that the German lender packaged toxic mortgages leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. According to The Wall Street Journal, The DOJ wants the bank to pay $14B. Deutsche Bank, however, said it has no plans to pay “anywhere near the number cited” and sees that figure as a starting point in negotiations.

In a statement, the firm said that it expected the final figure to be much lower and closer to what other banks have paid over similar allegations. InvestmentNews reports that it has not been uncommon for the DOJ in its investigation into MBSs to first put forward higher penalties than the eventual settlement that is reached.

Other firms and their deals over their mortgage lending activities include Bank of America (BAC) for $16.7B, Citigroup (C) for $7B, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) for $9B, Goldman Sachs (GS) for $5.1B, and Morgan Stanley (MS) for $3.2B. Goldman Sachs admitted to wrongdoing when it settled claims that it did not properly vet MBS before selling them as quality debt to investors.

CFTC and FINRA File Charges Against Deutsche Bank Over Swap Data and Information Transmitted Over Squawk Boxes

Published on: August 20, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a civil case against Deutsche Bank AG (DB). According to the regulator, for five days the firm, which is a provisionally registered Swap Dealer, did not report any swap data for a number of asset classes, turned in untimely and unfinished swap information, failed to supervise the staff responsible for the reporting of the swap data, and had an inadequate Business and Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan.

The bank’s swap data reporting system had suffered a System Outage. The CFTC said that the swap data reported prior to and after the outage showed that there had been ongoing problems with specific data fields and their integrity. As a result, the market data issued to the public was affected. Some of it purportedly continues to be affected to this day. The CFTC said that a reason for the System Outage and the reporting problems is that Deutsche Bank lacked an adequate Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan or another supervisory system that was equally satisfactory.

Earlier this month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Deutsche Bank $12.5M for substantive supervisory failures involving trading-related information and research that the firm had issued to employees over internal speakers, also referred to as squawk boxes. The self-regulatory organization said that even though there were red flags related to this matter, Deutsche Bank neglected to set up supervision that was adequate over both the access that registered representatives had to the “squawk,” or “hoots,” which is the information issue through the squawk boxes, and the communication of this data to customers.