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BANKS

Deutsche Bank to pay investing compensation

Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, on Tuesday was told to pay €541,000 ($768,000) in compensation to a client who had not been sufficiently informed of the risks of certain financial products, the court said.

Published: 22 March 2011 14:55 CET
Deutsche Bank to pay investing compensation
Photo: DPA

In a ruling that could set a legal precedent, Deutsche Bank “failed to fulfill its advisory obligation,” the highest German federal court in Karlsruhe said.

It ordered Deutsche Bank to pay compensation to the plaintiff, a plumbing supplies manufacturer in the western state of Hesse, who bought a complex investment in 2005.

The so-called “spread ladder swap” consisted of exchanging long-term credits for short-term ones in the aim of earning money on lower short-term credit rates.

When short-term rates rose during the financial crisis, several hundred German local governments and companies lost several hundred million euros from the investments.

The federal court’s ruling was widely anticipated by many who plan similar actions against Deutsche Bank or others that sold similar financial products.

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BUSINESS

French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

French authorities on Wednesday slapped a €90,000-per-day fine on e-commerce giant Amazon until it removes abusive clauses in its contracts with businesses using its platform to sell their goods.

Published: 14 April 2022 09:06 CEST
French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

The anti-fraud Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) service said the online sales giant’s contracts with third-party sellers who use its Amazon.fr website contain “unbalanced” clauses.

“The company Amazon Services Europe did not comply completely with an injunction it was served and it is now subject to a fine of €90,000 per day of delay” in applying the changes, the DGCCRF said in a statement.

It also urged the platform to conform with European rules on equity and transparency for firms using online platforms.

Amazon said the order would harm consumers.

“The changes imposed by the DGCCRF will stop us from effectively protecting consumers and permit bad actors to set excessive prices or spam our clients with commercial offers,” the e-commerce giant said in a statement.

“We will comply with the DGCCRF’s decision but we absolutely do not understand it and we are challenging it in court,” responded the e-commerce giant in a statement.

Amazon said the clauses that the DGCCRF has ordered removed had, for example “prevented the appearance of exorbitant prices for mask and hydroalcoholic gel during the pandemic”.

In 2019, Amazon was fined €4 million for “manifestly unbalanced” contract clauses with third-party sellers on its site in a case brought by the DGCCRF.

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