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Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS has been fined €25mn by German prosecutors over a greenwashing scandal following long-running investigations by authorities within the US and Germany.
DWS, which is 80 per cent owned by the German lender, misled buyers about its inexperienced credentials between 2020 and 2023, Frankfurt prosecutors mentioned on Wednesday.
The asset manager used “aggressive” promoting that introduced it as a frontrunner in sustainable investments, regardless of “nonetheless present process a metamorphosis course of”, Frankfurt prosecutors mentioned in a press release.
The investigation was launched after a whistleblower criticism from Desiree Fixler, DWS’s former head of environmental, social and governance. Fixler alleged that DWS made deceptive statements in its 2020 annual report concerning the dimension of its ESG belongings.
In 2023, DWS agreed to pay $19mn to settle prices introduced by the US securities regulator, which at the moment was the watchdog’s highest-ever penalty associated to ESG standards towards an funding adviser.
DWS mentioned it had already publicly acknowledged that previously, “our advertising was generally exuberant” and that it had improved its inside documentation and management processes.
The asset manager mentioned the high-quality wouldn’t have an effect on its quarterly outcomes as a result of it had already made provisions.
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