HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) - Two executives at the
warrants trading desk at Deutsche Bank
The bank's head of warrant trading in Hong Kong and one of his subordinates were among the 11 people arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported, citing unnamed market sources.
The two senior executives were being probed for alleged bribery involving tens of millions of dollars, the South China Morning Post said, citing a person familiar with the investigation.
Deutsche Bank spokesman Michael West said the bank had no comment.
On Thursday, the Frankfurt-based bank said its Hong Kong warrant business was operating as normal and there had been no allegations of misconduct by the bank.
"We don't comment on the bank's employees as a matter of policy," West said in a statement on Thursday.
The reports come at a time when Deutsche Bank is under scrutiny across the globe.
After South Korean regulators imposed a trading suspension on the bank's local brokerage unit in February, a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday said Deutsche and other banks contributed to "the mortgage mess" that culminated with a collapse of the real-estate market in 2007. [ID:nN13275638]
Deutsche's shares fell 3 percent on Thursday on concerns over the U.S. probe. [ID:nLDE73D1C1]
South Korean regulators in February suspended for six months some operations by Deutsche's local brokerage unit after ruling the bank had manipulated the stock market. [ID:nTOE71L035]
Deutsche Bank's trading volume of warrants was among the top five in the past year in Hong Kong, accounting for 8 percent to 9 percent of the total, the Economic Journal said.
Recently, its market share slumped to less than 1 percent, the daily added. (Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Michael Flaherty and Vinu Pilakkott)