Deutsche Bank reaches billion dollar settlement with DoJ

Deutsche Bank said it would pay USD7.2 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice, related to its issuance and underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and other activities during 2005 to 2007, reported Reuters.

The agreement is less than the USD14 billion the United States asked Deutsche Bank to pay in September to settle the claims. That negotiating figure caused Deutsche Bank’s stock to plummet and raised questions about the bank’s stability and the risks it poses to the financial system.

Under the settlement, Deutsche Bank will pay a civil monetary penalty of $3.1 billion and provide USD4.1 billion in consumer relief in the United States. This is not the final agreement and there can be no assurance that the DoJ and the bank will agree on the final documentation, the bank said on Friday. Deutsche Bank expects to record a pretax charge of about USD1.17 billion in its fourth quarter because of the civil monetary penalty.

The settlement marked the first in a possible string of mortgage-related resolutions or lawsuits by the DoJ for European banks. The DoJ on Thursday sued Barclays Plc on charges of fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008-09 financial crisis.