Telephone and communications recording

Provided for the purposes of compliance with article 76 of Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/565(1)

General

For the purposes of this disclosure, “DB” means Deutsche Bank AG Frankfurt head office (DB Frankfurt), Deutsche Bank AG acting through its London branch and/or DB UK Bank Ltd, as appropriate.

Telephone conversations between DB and Client may be recorded without the use of a warning tone and used as evidence in the event of a dispute or investigation. DB may retain records of all communications with Client for, in principle, a period of five years and, where requested by the competent authority, for a period of up to seven years.

A copy of the recording of such records will be available on request during the applicable period.

Upon receipt of a written request from you, DB will within a reasonable period provide you with details of the execution of your orders.

Additional Disclosures provided to Clients of DB Frankfurt

Irrespective of the other existing statutory recording requirements (e.g. in accordance with section 25 (a) (1) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, KWG) or section 25 (h) (1) KWG), the bank is required from 3 January 2018, in accordance with the German Securities Trading Act (in particular section 83 (3) WpHG), to record telephone conversations and electronic communications (e.g. email) with its clients where such conversations or communications involve the provision of investment services on the subject matter and relate to the receipt, transmission and execution of client orders.

The bank is required to record these conversations even where the telephone conversation or electronic communication (e.g. email) does not result in the conclusion of such a transaction for the provision of investment services.

Notwithstanding section 83 (3) of the German Securities Trading Act, the German banking industry follows an established practice of recording telephone conversations in trading with currencies, cash investments, derivatives, securities, and commodities. This established practice can be traced back to a basic agreement signed by the umbrella organizations of the German banking industry and the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) in 1993.

The recording of telephone calls by the trading departments is also consistent with a widely adopted practice abroad and complies with a recommendation of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) provided with the "Minimum Requirements for Risk Management - MaRisk." For this reason, all business-related conversations by telephone and electronic communications are recorded in the respective divisions of the Corporate & Investment Bank.

The purpose of such recordings is to assist with resolving ambiguities relating to whether the parties have entered into an agreement and relating to the content of agreements, as well as ambiguities relating to the conditions of an order placed by the client and whether it conforms with the transaction executed by the bank.

This obligation shall enhance client and investor protection, to improve market monitoring, and to establish legal certainty in the interest of clients and the bank.

The recording obligation also extends to telephone conversations and electronic communications of the bank with any of the clients' agents.

Clients are therefore asked to inform their employees who conclude business transactions by phone with the relevant divisions of the Corporate & Investment Bank that these calls will be recorded.

If a client or a client’s agent does not consent to the recording, the client cannot receive the bank’s investment services by telephone or via electronic communication.

Conversation notes

The bank is required, in the case of personal conversations with clients relating to investment services, to record in a durable medium notes of the conversation which include at least the following:

  • date and time of the meeting,
  • location of the meeting,
  • identity of the attendees,
  • initiator of the meeting, and
  • relevant information about the order including the price, volume, type of order and when it shall be transmitted or executed.

(1) With effect from 1st January 2021, the Delegated Regulation, so far as operative at that time, will form part of the domestic laws of the United Kingdom. References to the Delegated Regulation include the Delegated Regulation both as it forms part of European Union Law and as it will form part of the domestic laws of the United Kingdom.