Deutsche Bank AG said the management board will review its procedures for bringing on new customers as co-Chief Executive Officer John Cryan seeks to tighten controls and avoid a repeat of regulatory investigations of the lender.
While the review is under way, the bank will “suspend the on-boarding of new clients and the introduction of new products to existing clients in certain locations that have higher risk weightings,” Cryan said in a staff memo posted on the bank’s website late Friday. The Frankfurt-based lender said it won’t begin to work with new customers until it has completed all procedures requiring the bank to know its clients.
Cryan has sought to restore the confidence of investors and regulators in Germany’s largest bank, which has been battered by scandals, including the manipulation of benchmark interest rates. While Cryan has been cutting jobs and costs to help bolster profit after joining Juergen Fitschen as co-CEO in July, Deutsche Bank is facing renewed scrutiny amid a money-laundering probe in Russia.
Jeff Urwin, who runs Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank unit, will lead the review with help from other top executives and senior staff across the company’s business units, according to the statement.