Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) announces that it has imposed an administrative fine of EUR 8.66 million on Deutsche Bank AG.
The regulator explains that, as a supervised contributor to EURIBOR, the bank at times did not have in place effective preventive systems, controls and policies within the meaning of Article 16(2)(a) of the European Benchmarks Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/1011).
The bank may lodge an appeal against BaFin’s administrative fine order.
The objective of the Benchmarks Regulation is to ensure valid benchmarks and prevent manipulation. It requires contributors to have in place effective systems and controls (Article 16). Contributors are natural or legal persons who contribute data for determining benchmarks. In the European Union, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) is used as benchmark, for example.
According to German laws, breaches of the Benchmarks Regulation can be punished by imposition of a fine of up to 10% of the total turnover.