Dubai: The DIFC branch of Deutsche Bank AG (DBDIFC) was fined $8.4 million (Dh30.84 million) by the The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) for some serious violations of its rules.
The imposition of fines on Deutsche Bank follows an investigation into DBDIFC which focused on its activities from January 2011 to January 2014.
The DFSA said that after investigations it uncovered that DBDIFC was aware that its Private Wealth Management business (PWM) was operating in breach of DFSA requirements, but did not take adequate steps to address the issue. In addition, certain staff of DBDIFC provided false information to the DFSA on several occasions about the nature and scope of activities undertaken by PWM.
“The provision of false information to the DFSA is a serious matter. One of the pillars of the DIFC regulatory framework is that Authorised Persons must deal with the DFSA in an open and cooperative manner and must disclose appropriately any information of which the DFSA would reasonably be expected to be notified,” said Ian Johnston, Chief Executive of the DFSA.
DBDIFC agreed to settle the matter following the conclusion of the investigation and the fine was imposed.
“We have reviewed and subsequently upgraded our client on-boarding processes, and we are pleased the DFSA has acknowledged that Deutsche Bank has taken steps to remedy the matters described in the decision notice,” the bank said in an emailed statement.
Deutsche Bank acknowledged the DFSA’s findings related to differences between the on-boarding standards applied in Deutsche Bank’s booking locations outside of the DIFC and the requirements in the DIFC.