The Frankfurt offices of Deutsche Bank AG DB,
and its DWS Group DWS asset management subsidiary,
were searched by authorities on Tuesday on charges of greenwashing at DWS.
Some 50 city prosecutors, along with German market regulator Bafin and the Federal Criminal Police Office, were deployed on Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office said.
The initial suspicion is of investment fraud, the spokeswoman said.
Deutsche Bank confirmed the searches.
“Prosecution measures are being directed against unknown individuals in connection with the green wash allegations against DWS,” a spokesman for the German lender said.
Shares at 10.43 GMT were down 1.9% on the news.
A DWS spokesman said: “We have fully cooperated continuously with all relevant regulators and authorities on this issue and will continue to do so.”
Deutsche Bank was last investigated by German authorities in late April, which the lender said was related to activity reports it submitted to an anti-money laundering agency.
Write to Matthias Goldschmidt at matthias.goldschmidt@wsj.com and Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@dowjones.com