Police again raid Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS in greenwashing probe

DPA
·1 min read
A blue light shines on the roof of a police car. German authorities have again raided the offices of Deutsche Bank wealth management subsidiary DWS as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of so-called greenwashing. Friso Gentsch/dpa
A blue light shines on the roof of a police car. German authorities have again raided the offices of Deutsche Bank wealth management subsidiary DWS as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of so-called greenwashing. Friso Gentsch/dpa

German authorities have again raided the offices of Deutsche Bank wealth management subsidiary DWS as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of so-called greenwashing.

DWS has been dogged by accusations that the company misled potential customers about how environmentally friendly certain green investment products actually were, a practice derisively known as greenwashing.

"As in the past, we will cooperate fully with the authorities in order to conclude the investigations as quickly as possible," DWS said on Thursday.

According to the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office, three prosecutors and 30 officers from the Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) were involved in the search of the DWS premises in Frankfurt.

According to earlier statements, the investigation is directed against the company's former top manager and other unnamed employees of DWS.

The first search in connection with the allegations took place in May 2022. In June of the same year, then-DWS chief executive Asoka Wöhrmann was replaced by Stefan Hoops, a long-time manager at DWS parent company Deutsche Bank.

In mid-January of this year, the same law enforcement authorities again searched the premises of DWS in Frankfurt.

At the time, DWS announced that it had examined a total of around 3 million documents and made the files available to authorities.