The Deutsche Bank headquarters are seen in Frankfurt, Germany October 29, 2015. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German financial market watchdog Bafin has watered down its criticism of Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) in a draft final report of the regulator’s investigation into the manipulation of benchmark interest rates, Der Spiegel magazine said on Friday. Without citing sources, the magazine said a number of board members and other senior executives mentioned by name in a preliminary report by Bafin earlier this year no longer appear in the draft final version. Bafin declined to comment on Der Spiegel’s report. Several of the lender’s leaders, including former Co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain, have left the bank in recent months. Deutsche Bank agreed in April to pay $2.5 billion (£1.6 billion) to U.S. and British authorities for manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor. A source familiar with the situation told Reuters last week that Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board was checking to see if it was possible to hold some board members financially responsible for the Libor debacle, saying Bafin’s Libor report could form a good basis for that effort. Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Kathrin Jones; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Mark Trevelyan
Germany, BaFin's financial markets regulator, has announced that it expects to publish its final report of its investigation over the Libor manipulation scandal involving Deutsche Bank at the beginning of January 2016. As we reported previously, Germany accused Deutsche Bank's six former executives of not preventing alleged market manipulations for many years. Sources suggest that Germany has "clearly significantly softened" its investigations report.