Deutsche Bank In £168m Sanctions Settlement

Deutsche Bank (Other OTC: DBAGF - news) has agreed to pay $258m (£168m) to US regulators to settle sanctions-busting allegations.

New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) said the German lender processed nearly $11bn (£7bn) in payments through its New York branch from 1999 to 2006 on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian, Burmese, Libyan and Syrian clients.

Staff outside the US removed some information from the transactions before passing payments to the US branch for clearing, according to investigators.

As part of its settlement, Deutsche will dismiss two managing directors, two directors and two vice presidents. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) will also ban three other staff from duties involving US operations and install an independent monitor, the DFS said.

The bank will pay $200m (£130m) to the department and $58m (£38m) to the US Federal Reserve.

Superintendent Anthony Albanese of the DFS said: "We are committed to investigating and pursuing sanctions violations and money laundering at financial institutions."

A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said it was pleased to reach the resolution. She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) said: "The conduct ceased several years ago, and since then we have terminated all business with parties from the countries involved."

It comes two weeks after the DFS announced a $787m (£512m) settlement with France's Credit Agricole (Swiss: ACA.SW - news) for similar violations.

Last week, Deutsche Bank said it was slashing 15,000 posts after tumbling to a record €6.1bn (£4.4bn) loss for the third quarter – as it took a hit from major financial write-offs and money set aside to deal with litigation.