DealBook: Setting Aside More Cash for Legal Woes, Deutsche Bank Cuts 2012 Profit

FRANKFURT — Deutsche Bank on Wednesday revised its 2012 profit sharply downward as it set aside more money to cover the potential cost of legal proceedings

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest lender, set aside an additional 600 million euros ($775 million) to cover legal problems, reducing its pretax profit for 2012 by the same amount. As a result, net profit for the year was 291 million euros, about 400 million euros less than the bank reported on Jan. 31.

Like many big European institutions, Deutsche Bank, which is based in Frankfurt, faces a raft of legal woes.

Deutsche Bank is dealing numerous lawsuits related to its sales of mortgages and mortgage-related derivatives in the United States before the financial crisis. Ronald Weichert, a Deutsche Bank spokesman, cited those suits as the main reason for setting aside more money for legal expenses.

The bank has also been ensnared by the global investigation into rate manipulation. In November, Deutsche Bank said it had set aside money for potential penalties related to the rate-rigging case. Now, it appears the German financial firm is increasing the buffer, partially in response to the string of recent settlements.

In February, Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay American and British regulators $612 million to settle claims that it rigged the London interbank offered rate or Libor. Last year, the Swiss bank UBS agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement and Barclays agreed to pay $450 million. The banks are also likely to face civil suits from people who paid more interest than they should have because of Libor manipulation.

In total, Deutsche Bank has set aside 2.4 billion euros in 2012 to cover possible judgments and other litigation costs. The legal expenses, the bank said, would not affect the dividend of 75 euro cents per share, which was announced in January.

Deutsche Bank was one of the few large German banks to avoid taking a direct government bailout during the financial crisis, and it is the only German bank able to compete in the same league as large American and British investment banks.

But Deutsche Bank continues to struggle with a daunting array of legal proceedings and official inquiries related to its behavior during the boom years. The bank’s co-chief executives, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, have cut back on bonuses and taken other steps they say will discourage excessive risk-taking and unethical or illegal behavior in the future.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/deutsche-bank-cuts-2012-profit-and-sets-aside-more-cash-for-legal-woes/?partner=rss&emc=rss