Deutsche Bank stock hits lowest level ever

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Police raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: Andreas Arnold/Getty Images
Police raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: Andreas Arnold/Getty Images

Shares in Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank have dropped to their lowest level ever as police searched the company’s headquarters in Frankfurt for a second consecutive day over money laundering allegations.

Shares in the bank dropped by more than 3% to €8 per share in the early afternoon. This is the latest scandal to slam the weakened German giant, which has seen shares drop by about 50% this year, putting its market capitalisation below €17bn (£15bn, $19.3bn).

A source told Reuters that police has searched the offices of all the members of the bank’s board as they investigate money laundering allegations linked to the infamous Panama Papers.

Deutsche Bank (DB, DBK.DE) said it is cooperating with investigators.

“As far as we are concerned, we have already provided the authorities with all the relevant information regarding [the] Panama Papers,” it said in a written statement. “It is in our interest … to clarify the facts. In recent years, we have proven that we fully cooperate with the authorities – and we will continue to do so.”

The Panama Papers were a massive trove of millions of leaked documents that came into the spotlight in 2016, which revealed financial dealings of a number of world leaders, politicians and public figures.

The German prosecutor said on Thursday the investigation was triggered after investigators reviewed information in the Panama Papers, which came from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Deutsche Bank has been slammed by years of scandals and problems.

In 2016, it agreed to a $7.2bn deal with the US government to settle claims that it packaged and sold toxic mortgages between 2005 and 2007.

In 2015, it agreed to pay $2.5bn in penalties for its role in manipulating Libor, which is used to set interest rates in financial products and transactions around the world.

With files from Reuters