The U.S. Federal Reserve just recently fined Deutsche Bank AG $156.6 million over claims that they violated foreign exchange rules and breaking the Volcker Rule.
The VR was legislation passed several years ago, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which sought to restrict US banks from making speculative investments that didn't benefit customers; attempting to limit the chances of banks engaging in shady behavior which contributes to problems that the rest of us end-up paying for.
It is alleged that the German bank failed to accurately detect and stop its traders from using chat rooms in order to communicate and share sensitive information with competitors.
When compared to penalties that other financial institutions have received for similar sorts of allegations, this fine wasn't as much as we have seen given in the past.
A number of US banks have been given fines over the last few years, linked to allegations of “unsafe” and “unsound” practices, and those fines have totaled more than $1.8 billion.
This might not be the only penalty for Deutsche either, as it's reported that the New York Department of Financial Services is also looking to examine their chat room behavior and they are supposedly already preparing to sanction the financial institution.
The recent sanctions add to a total sum of about $14.7 billion in fines that the Bank has had to endure regarding various fines and legal settlements since about 2008. This is said to be the most that any bank in Europe has had to pay. But for an institution that makes several billion every year, this fine really isn't that meaningful in comparison.
Pics:
TheNewYorker
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-20/deutsche-bank-fined-157-million-by-fed-over-chat-rooms-volcker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcker_Rule
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/20/federal-reserve-fines-deutsche-bank-156-6mm-for-forex-violations.html