U.S. puts Deutsche Bank, UBS, RBS pension businesses on notice

NEW YORK – Three global banks are in danger of losing their ability to manage pension funds in the U.S., as the Department of Labor wrestles with how to hold financial institutions accountable for criminal misconduct.

The Labor Department, in mid-July letters reviewed by Bloomberg, told Deutsche Bank AG, UBS Group AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC that it had tentatively rejected their requests to keep managing U.S. pension money. The banks, which admitted guilt earlier this year over manipulating foreign exchange or benchmark interest rates, were required to seek the department’s permission to maintain their Qualified Professional Asset Manager status.

Such a rejection would be a departure for the Labor Department, and the tentative decision comes early in a process that allows for additional bank response and public comment.

Public interest groups and lawmakers including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, have pressed the Labor Department for tougher reviews of banks convicted of crimes before clearing them to continue their pension-management businesses.

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The department could use a threat of denial as leverage to place stricter conditions on any permission it may ultimately grant.

“You shouldn’t discount the possibility that the Department of Labor is asking for more information so they can better craft conditions for a final exemption,” said Andrew Oringer, an attorney at Dechert LLP who specializes in pension issues.

Addressing issues

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Barclays PLC pleaded guilty to settle currency-manipulation charges in May and have also requested waivers for their pension-management operations, which are pending.

UBS and Deutsche Bank are actively engaging with the Labor Department to address the issues it raised, according to spokesmen for the banks. Michael Trupo, a Labor Department spokesman, declined to comment. Spokesmen for RBS, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Barclays declined to comment.

The department told the banks it had “tentatively decided not to propose the requested exemptions” they sought, according to the notices dated July 16 and 17. In each case, the department wrote, the banks had failed to demonstrate that their continued pension-fund management would be in their clients’ interests, or that they were protecting the rights of plan participants.

The letters gave the banks 40 days to submit additional information to support their requests, a period that would end this week.

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