DWS is in trouble with the US Securities and Exchange Commission

According to a newspaper report, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Deutsche Bank's asset management arm DWS for possibly glossed over information on sustainable investments. Investigations by the SEC and the Brooklyn Attorney General are at an early stage, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The former head of the sustainability department had previously stated that DWS had overestimated investments based on sustainability criteria, the report said. Deutsche Bank and a Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the WSJ report. The SEC did not immediately respond to the request for comment. DWS shares give way on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and lose around ten percent of their value. "The topic of ESG [Environmental Social Governance] has always been problematic," said one trader: "Everyone knows that this is only marketing for the zeitgeist. There are still no binding rules and definitions, they are only just developing ". Therefore, the US investigations are questionable. According to the WSJ, DWS has found it difficult to define and implement a sustainability strategy and sometimes gave investors a more rosy picture than what was actually happening. This emerges from internal e-mails and presentations that the newspaper has. This shows the difficulty and pressure asset managers are under to gain a foothold in the coveted fund market, in which, according to Morningstar, investors invest $ 3 billion a day.