A private banker who formerly worked at Deutsche Bank has been charged with embezzling funds from clients, according to the Financial Times.

The paper reported that the unnamed individual is accused of transferring more than €600,000 from the accounts of wealthy clients to speculate in derivatives, holding the stolen funds in his mother-in-law's bank account for more than a year.

Prosecutors accused the banker of targeting wealthy individuals including a partner at a law firm, a former chief executive, and a private equity executive. When questioned by victims, the banker reportedly blamed the transactions on a banking error.

The FT added that Deutsche Bank had flagged suspicious activity linked to the affected accounts in 2025 and reported it to the relevant authorities. The total financial losses are believed to be €493,000, with the defendant reportedly taking up to €81,500 taken from victims per transaction in the belief that wealthy clients would not notice.

In court, the FT said the defendant said he had built trust in his profession and through his actions had “abused that trust”. He explained that while Deutsche Bank requires manual approval for transactions above €2,500, he had circumvented this by showing colleagues emails which he had altered.

The defendant is reportedly seeking a suspended sentence, arguing that he intended to return the money which he had originally taken to cover €50,000 in lost savings and a need to support his growing family.

Deutsche Bank is pursuing greater investment in AI to flag and remediate fraud.

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