Deutsche Bank thinks staff rigged indices in 2008 deal to help Italian bank
Deutsche Bank employees may have manipulated internal indices as part of an allegedly fraudulent scheme to help Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena conceal losses, according to an audit commissioned by German regulators. The study, requested by watchdog Bafin and seen by Bloomberg, says an internal Deutsche Bank review described "abnormalities" in the values of proprietary indices used to set the price for the Monte Paschi deal in December 2008. While investigators at the Frankfurt-based bank could not "unequivocally" link that to manipulation or the deal’s outcome, Deutsche Bank did not have any guidelines for monitoring the indices for potential rigging, according to the audit. The internal Deutsche Bank report has never been made public. Its findings are also cited in Italian court documents seen by Bloomberg. The audit shows that banker abuse of benchmarks may have gone beyond the rigging of industry measures such as the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that has already trig...
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