Thailand freezes Deutsche Bank’s permit to operate as primary repo dealer

The German lender said its government bond trading and other business activities in Thailand remain unaffected.

Thailand’s central bank dropped Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) from its list of primary dealers for repurchase agreements in May, limiting the lender’s scope to trade government bonds in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.

Germany’s biggest lender had its permit suspended in the latest annual review owing to a regulatory infringement, according to a Bank of Thailand official, who asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak on the matter.

Michael West, Deutsche Bank’s Hong Kong-based spokesman, said the bank ceased to take part in bilateral repos with the Bank of Thailand from April and declined to give a reason for the change.

“Other than the bank’s ability to repo specifically with the BOT, the bank’s government bond trading and other extensive business activities in Thailand, are unaffected,” he wrote on Friday in an e-mail. “Deutsche Bank continues to be a primary dealer in bond trading with the BOT.”

Siam City Bank Pcl, which was acquired by Thanachart Capital Pcl in December, was also removed from the central bank’s list of primary dealers for bilateral repos in the latest review, according to statements on the Bank of Thailand’s website. The Thai unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. was among three lenders added to the list, which now totals 12 and includes local subsidiaries of HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Standard Chartered Plc. (STAN) Korean Court.

Deutsche Bank has had to rein in its business activities in South Korea this year after being punished by that country’s regulators. Korean prosecutors are investigating allegations that the Frankfurt-based lender’s staff made unfair profit from a plunge in the benchmark Kospi stock index on Nov. 11.

View the full story in Bloomberg.