The German lender has been hit by a scandal over suspected money laundering at its Moscow office over the summer and last month said it was closing part of its business in Russia as part of a review of its global structure. A number of other major banks, such as BNP Paribas, have also fallen foul of anti-money laundering laws in recent years, incurring heavy fines.

Werner Steinmueller, head of Deutsche Bank's global transaction banking business, was quoted by Reuters as saying that Germany’s largest bank plans to increase spending on systems to prevent money laundering.

He did not give any figures for this investment, but said it was part of the bank's plans to gradually double its annual investment of €100 million in the GTB division.

"The regulatory requirements are rising, that is a big challenge for all banks," he was quoted as saying late last week. Computer systems can be relatively easily programmed to comply with sanctions against countries, companies or individuals, Steinmueller said.

"It gets much tougher when it comes to fraud," he was quoted as saying, adding: "Known con schemes can be identified fairly quickly but new scams across countries and currencies are much more difficult."
Steinmueller said banks used algorithms to spot suspicious trades, but added that Deutsche Bank's GTB unit handles 200,000 to 300,000 transactions every day.