Germany's financial regulator found no evidence during a two-year probe that Deutsche Bank AG co-Chief Executive Officer Anshu Jain knew about or participated in possible interest rate manipulation, newspaper Handelsblatt reported.
The watchdog, known as Bafin, also concluded that other board members didn't know about or take part in any such activity, Handelsblatt said. The Bonn-based watchdog's report on the case is expected to come at the start of 2015, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people close to the financial industry.
Deutsche Bank is contending with international probes into whether firms rigged the London interbank offered rate. Jain won the co-CEO job after leading the firm's investment bank from 2004 to 2012, years when some alleged improprieties occurred. He hasn't been accused of wrongdoing.
Michael Golden, a spokesman for the Frankfurt-based company, declined to comment on the Handelsblatt report. He referred to the bank's prior statements that it's cooperating with authorities, has conducted its own review and has found "no current or former member of the management board had any inappropriate involvement."
Sabine Reimer, a spokeswoman for Bafin in Bonn, declined to comment on the Handelsblatt report. The findings of German regulatory investigations generally aren't made public.
Regulators and prosecutors around the world are investigating allegations that traders and bankers colluded to submit interest-rate data to move benchmarks for profit. A dozen firms so far have been fined at least $6.5 billion in probes related to Libor and its derivatives. More than $300 trillion of securities, loans and contracts are tied to Libor.
Deutsche Bank was among six firms fined in December by the European Commission for rigging Euribor, the benchmark money- market rate for the euro, and yen Libor, which reflects how much banks charge each other for loans in the Japanese currency. The bank, which paid euro 725 million ($890 million) to settle that case, said in October that it's in talks with authorities to resolve its role in the industrywide rigging of benchmark interest rates.
