By Tom Sims and Matthias Inverardi
FRANKFURT, March 12 (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank said on Thursday that four former employees are seeking a total of more than 600 million pounds ($800 million) over alleged damage to their reputations due to a case involving business with Italy’s Monte dei Paschi.
Germany’s largest bank made the disclosure of the amount being claimed in its annual report and said that it “will defend itself against them robustly, including disputing the inflated, unrealistic alleged losses claimed”.
The case stems from deals Deutsche Bank did with Italian bank Monte dei Paschi (MPS) in 2008. These initially resulted in convictions for the bankers and Deutsche Bank in Italy for allegedly colluding with MPS to hide losses.
The convictions were overturned in 2022, but the bankers are now suing Deutsche Bank, alleging damage to their reputations for taking blame for the trades.
The London lawsuits are already known about, but the damages being sought by the plaintiffs, who allege that Deutsche Bank harmed their careers, has not previously been made public.
The sum comes on top of a 152 million euro ($175.58 million) claim by a fifth banker in a Frankfurt court that was filed in 2024 and is slated to be heard later this year. A sixth banker has settled for an undisclosed sum.
The claims for damages in 2025 coincided with Deutsche Bank’s most profitable year since 2007, resulting in a lift in pay for its CEO Christian Sewing.
His compensation was an estimated 10.5 million euros ($12.12 million) for 2025, up from 9.75 million euros for 2024, the bank also disclosed in its annual report.
Deutsche Bank expects its revenue to rise to around 33 billion euros this year, up from 32.1 billion in 2025.
($1 = 0.7473 pounds)
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Matthias Inverardi, editing by Thomas Seythal, Miranda Murray and Friederike Heine; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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