Germany's biggest bank on Tuesday finalised a US$7.2 billion settlement with the DoJ over its sale of toxic mortgage securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Combined with an earlier US$1.9 billion settlement with U.S. government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, America's biggest providers of housing finance, the total bill for the mortgages issue stands at US$9.1 billion. "Ultimately, Deutsche Bank enriched itself by paying reduced prices for risky loans, while representing to investors valuation metrics based on appraisals the bank knew to be inflated," the statement said. "The general view is that the worst point in investment banking is behind us and that it would be stupid to cut back significantly now. The prospects for investment banking are improving, partly because of the program of the new U.S. President Trump," one of the people said.

Source: The Edge Markets January 18, 2017 11:24 UTC