Deutsche Bank First on List of Suspicious Transactions

Leaked US government reports suggest that Germany’s largest lender - Deutsche Bank, has facilitated over half of the $2 trillion suspicious transactions flagged to the US government between 1999 and 2017.

According to the documents, $1.3 trillion of $2 trillion suspicious transactions in the years have passed through Deutsche Bank’s system. Files contain suspicious activity reports that banks and other financial institutions filed with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network - FinCEN. Financial firms are required to alert regulators when they detect concerning activities, such as sanction violations or potential money laundering.

In an official statement, Deutsche Bank has assured the public that leaked files “have already been investigated and led to regulatory resolutions in which the bank’s cooperation and remediation was publicly recognized. Where necessary and appropriate, consequence management was applied.” The bank additionally mentioned that they have “devoted significant resources to strengthening our controls” and “are very focused on meeting our responsibilities and obligations.”

This is, however, not the first issue of such calibre by the German lender. Deutsche Bank has already been found facilitating financial transactions that violate US sanctions in 2015, resulting in the bank paying fines worth $258 million for doing business with US-sanctioned countries of Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar. The newly-leaked FinCEN documents suggest that 2015 may not have, however, put an end to Deutsche Bank's suspicious transaction issues.  

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