Deutsche Bank’s offices in Germany were raided by police today over allegations that it sold disingenuous financial products boasting false environmental, social and governance claims.
German regulators claim that asset manager DWS has sold $1tn of investment products under the guise that they were more sustainable than the reality.
DWS’s former sustainability head Desiree Fixler, who worked as the head of ESG at the bank’s asset management arm, was the whistle-blower on the case. She first made the claims last August.
German prosecutors stated that “sufficient factual evidence has emerged" that ESG factors "were not taken into account at all in a large number of investments", according to reports.
Deutsche Bank is already under investigation for greenwashing by federal prosecutors in the US.