By Eyk Henning
FRANKFURT--Deutsche Bank AG (DB) is less involved in the U.K.'s
investigations into the alleged manipulation of foreign-exchange
markets than some of the German lender's large rivals, chief
financial officer Stefan Krause said Wednesday.
The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority held preliminary
settlement talks with executives and lawyers of the six banks,
comprising Citigroup Inc. (C), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM),
Barclays PLC (BCS), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), HSBC
Holdings PLC (HBC), and UBS AG (UBS), people familiar with the
matter told The Wall Street Journal in late September.
The FCA told these banks they should each expect to pay the U.K.
regulator more than the 160 million pounds ($261 million) that UBS
paid in 2012 to settle the U.K.'s probe into alleged interest-rate
rigging, the people said.
"It wasn't our decision to not be part of the group [of six
banks]," Mr. Krause said in a conference call, adding that Deutsche
Bank's involvement in the probes is smaller. "This is good news at
this point, but the investigations are still ongoing and we need to
learn more" about them, he said.
Banks and regulators are eager to conclude the currencies-market
probe, hoping to avoid prolonged legal and regulatory wrangling, as
well as the financial uncertainty, that have dogged a separate
investigation into the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.
But the FCA settlement talks haven't included U.S. authorities,
several of which are conducting their own investigations into
possible currencies-market manipulation, the people familiar with
the matter have said, and it looks increasingly unlikely there will
be a joint U.S.-U.K. industry wide settlement, with the U.S. case
likely to continue into 2015.
Mr. Krause said Wednesday some investigations that the bank is
involved in are more advanced than others, adding that the
foreign-exchange investigations are "lower down in the process,"
signaling they could take longer to resolve than others.
Deutsche Bank said late Tuesday it is replacing Mr. Krause--who
has faced criticism from investors over his financial leadership of
the German bank--with a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner.
Mr. Krause will take a newly created position within the
company, with responsibilities including strategy, cost cutting and
other issues, the bank said. The personnel changes are part of a
broader shuffle on the company's management board. A senior
Deutsche Bank audit executive, Christian Sewing, will gain
responsibility for dealing with the bank's mounting legal and
legacy issues.
Write to Eyk Henning at Eyk.Henning@wsj.com
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