By AML Intelligence Correspondents
GERMAN federal police today (Wednesday) raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters and a Berlin branch as part of a major money laundering probe.
Around 30 plainclothes investigators entered the sprawling Deutsche head office in Frankfurt earlier today to carry out the searches.
Prosecutors said they are investigating as-yet unnamed persons and bank employees, they said in an emailed statement.
The reference to Deutsche staff has caught many in the AFC world by surprise and the eyes of AFC professionals across Europe were on the German lender this evening.
Deutsche Bank confirmed the searches, but declined to give any details.
“The bank is cooperating fully with the public prosecutor’s office,” it said in a statement.
The action appeared to be lower-key than previous raids.
There was no visible police presence at Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in central Frankfurt on Wednesday, contrasting with previous raids in which multiple police vehicles parked outside.
Deutsche Bank’s shares were 3% lower in mid-afternoon trade.
Deutsche Bank raids come before results
The searches come a day before Deutsche Bank is due to report its 2025 results, which analysts’ consensus forecasts show could involve its biggest net profit since 2007.
Deutsche Bank’s AML controls have caught the attention of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
Several money laundering lapses have cropped up at Germany’s largest bank over the last decade, prompting scrutiny from regulators, fines and police raids.
In January 2017, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay U.S. and UK regulators $630 million in fines over artificial trades between Moscow, London and New York that authorities said were used to launder $10 billion out of Russia.
The U.S. Federal Reserve fined the bank an additional $41 million for failing to ensure its systems would detect money laundering in May 2017.
In 2018, months after Christian Sewing became CEO, police spent two days searching the bank as part of an investigation into money laundering allegations linked to the Panama Papers.
Deutsche Bank was again searched in 2022 over whether it had filed so-called suspicious activity reports in a timely fashion.
“Further strengthening and developing our internal controls remains a priority for us,” Deutsche Bank Chairman Alexander Wynaendts told investors last year.
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