Deutsche Bank fined over interest rate controls

Germany's financial supervisory authority, Bafin, has imposed a fine of millions of euros on Deutsche Bank for deficiencies in the way it calculates key interest rates, reported dpa.

Germany's largest bank will have to pay 8.66 million euros because the institution, as a data supplier for the calculation of the Euribor rate, "at times did not have effective preventive systems, controls and strategies," Bafin said on Wednesday.

The Euribor (Euro Interbank Offer Rate), like the Libor, is used as the basis for banking transactions worth trillions - from building loans to complex derivatives.

A few years ago it came to light that employees of several major banks worldwide, including Deutsche Bank, had for years been cheating in calculating these reference interest rates in order to make higher profits.

Since the beginning of 2018, regulations require banks who provide data for the calculation of the Euribor to ensure that there is no manipulation and that the data is reported accurately.

According to the banking supervisors, these conditions were not met at Deutsche Bank at various times during the audit period in 2019 and 2020.

Deutsche Bank accepted the fine, a spokesperson for the bank in Frankfurt said, but added that it had "no indications that the facts in question led to an erroneous report to the administrator of the reference value."