SFC slaps Deutsche Bank with $8.3m fine

It violated short position reporting and made unlicensed regulated activities.

The Securities and Futures Commission slapped Deutsche Bank AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT (DBAG) and its subsidiary Deutsche Securities Asia Limited (DSAL) with $8.3m fine over regulatory breaches in short position reporting, unlicensed regulated activities and segregation of client monies, according to a press release. 

DBAG failed to report 792 reportable short positions between June 2012 and January 2015, and published 49 research reports between January 2015 and March 2017 on futures contracts without a regulated activity registration.

DSAL, on the other hand, failed to segregate client monies within the timeline prescribed by the regulator in 117 incidents between January 2010 and December 2014.

The regulator took into account that the bank and its subsidiary self-reported their own shortcomings which significantly expedited the disciplinary proceedings. “Otherwise, similar failures would have resulted in a substantially higher level of fine,” SFC added. 

Photo from Markus Bernet - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5