Posted on 04/20/2016 1:18:11 PM PDT by Lorianne
Prior to last week, Deutsche Bank made headlines for a string of huge losses and massive exposure to risky derivatives. The last time the firm’s shares traded at prices this low, the world was in the midst of 2008’s financial apocalypse.
Deutsche Bank didn’t need more bad news, but a group of investors who brought suit against the massive German bank for cheating them by rigging the London “fix” price for gold and silver certainly must be smiling. Last week, the bank offered to settle their class action suit for an undisclosed amount.
Perhaps more importantly, DB promises to provide evidence to help the plaintiffs in their suit against the other banks who participated in manipulating the fix: Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, HSBC and SocGen. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni, the plaintiff’s attorney said, “In addition to valuable monetary consideration, Deutsche Bank has also agreed to provide cooperation to the Plaintiffs, including the production of instant messages and other electronic communications, as part of the settlement.”
If the information DB provides is incriminating, as the plaintiff’s expect, it won’t be the only recent example of bankers getting caught talking smugly amongst themselves about swindling investors and clients. A year ago Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, and RBS pled guilty to criminally rigging the foreign exchange markets following the leak of some embarrassing communiques.
That case rested, in large part, on logs from an exclusive chat group participants dubbed “The Cartel.”
Here is a good example of the type of conversations contained in those logs. The banker representing Barclays “mentors” another member:
“…whats the worst price I can put on this where the customers decision to trade with me or give me future business doesn’t change…if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”
It is not only typical of the kind of thing members discussed. It also pretty well sums up bankers’ attitudes toward the public and their clientele generally.
... snip
The Chinese have it right. Financial misconduct in excess of $5000 and it’s a 7.62 x 39 to the head and harvest everything useable. I don’t care if the person is an MBA and a VP of a bank or a thug ripping off a 7/11, the verdict and the punishment should be the same.
So who gets all the billions in fines and penalties?
The politicians who nominate the regulators who oversee the banks.
After all, someone needs to replenish the bribes they took to overlook the crime in the first place.
Fines certainly aren’t going back to investors and 401k holders.
Deutsch Bank was too busy planning a boycott against North Carolina for forbidding men to pee pee in the womens’ restroom.
Coming to a trading facility near you.
Just a matter of time.
Computerized trading will have to be outlawed to control the criminal tendencies of "traders."
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