Print this article

Malaysian Dirty Money Cloud Reportedly Spreads Over Deutsche

Tom Burroughes

12 July 2019

executive, Tim Leissner, who is helping authorities with the investigation. Prosecutors are looking into similar problems at the US firm.

In a statement emailed to this publication, Deutsche Bank said: “Deutsche Bank has cooperated fully with all regulatory and law enforcement agencies that have made inquiries relating to 1MDB. As stated in asset forfeiture complaints filed by the US Department of Justice, 1MDB made `material misrepresentations and omissions to Deutsche Bank officials’ in connection with 1MDB's transactions with the bank. This is consistent with the bank’s own findings in this matter.”

The controversy comes as the bank has also reportedly been scrutinised in relation to money laundering problems in Northern Europe (along with a number of other lenders in the region). 

More broadly, the bank is trying to restore profit margins and cut costs, shutting its equities sales teams, and reducing risk-weighted assets. Up to 18,000 jobs are being axed, about a fifth of its total payroll. So far, the bank’s share price has struggled to recover, having steadily lost ground over the past 12 months. (On a more positive tack, Deutsche Bank plans to add up to 300 client-facing wealth management personnel in the next two years, seeing this side of its business as increasingly important.)

The 1MDB scandal hinges around billions of dollars having been taken from the state-created fund over a period of about five years. Transactions via Singapore, for example, led to two banks – BSI and Falcon Private Bank – losing their licences to operate from that Asian city-state. US, Swiss and Singaporean investors continue to probe financial flows. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has denied wrongdoing and lost power in May last year during the national elections, has been arrested.