Overview

• Regulators said clients were overcharged about $39 million in fees between November 2015 and November 2023, and the bank has refunded affected customers.
• The largest error involved 39 discretionary portfolios billed at standard rates instead of agreed discounts from June 2016 to September 2022, costing clients about $5 million.
• Deutsche Bank failed to disclose investment banking relationships in 261 single-company and 1,590 industry research reports issued from September 2014 to September 2021.
• The SFC found 40 ETFs were assigned overly low risk ratings between August 2012 and December 2020, leading to 10 trades that exceeded clients’ risk tolerances.
• The action followed self-reports made from December 2020 to December 2023, with the SFC describing the breaches as inadvertent and noting strengthened controls as Hong Kong also fined HSBC HK$4.2 million for similar disclosure lapses.