Deutsche Bank hit hard by Korea's financial regulators

The final week of February was a bad one for Deutsche Bank’s business and reputation in Korea. The Frankfurt-based lender was slapped with a six-month ban on trading derivatives on its own account and a record fine. The names of five employees have also been handed to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

After a two-month investigation by the country’s financial regulators into charges of market manipulation and tardy reporting, the Financial Services Commission FSC decided that on November 11 last year, employees at Deutsche Bank’s Hong Kong and New York offices conspired with Deutsche Securities Korea DSK, Deutsche Bank’s Korean securities unit, to manipulate market prices in the Korean...