Deutsche Bank charged in South Korea over stock rout
BBC News, 22 August 2011
Deutsche Bank’s South Korean brokerage and four of its employees have been charged with illegally manipulating Seoul’s stock market last year.
Korean prosecutors allege the firm earned more than 45bn won ($41.5m; £25m) in unfair trading on 11 November. In a statement, Deutsche Bank denied the charges and said it would defend itself in court.
Seoul’s benchmark share index fell by 48 points, or 2.7%, in the last 10 minutes of trading on 11 November.
Korea’s Financial Services Commission confirmed that about 2.4tn won in sell orders from foreign investors were processed on that day, most of them through Deutsche Bank’s local securities unit.
In February this year, financial authorities banned Deutsche Bank’s Korean unit from trading shares and derivatives for its own account for six months starting from April.
Deutsche was also fined 1bn won over the alleged manipulation, the largest fine handed down by Korea’s stock exchange.
