Deutsche Bank. Credit: Michael A. Scarcella/ ALM

New York state's banking and insurance regulator imposed a $205 million civil penalty as part of a consent order with Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Bank for violating state banking laws in its foreign exchange trading business, the Department of Financial Services announced on Wednesday.

The regulator said the bank violated state laws by trying to improperly coordinate trading activity through online chat rooms, improperly sharing confidential customer information, trading aggressively to skew prices and short-changing customers from 2007 through 2013.

A DFS investigation concluded that the bank engaged in “improper, unsafe and unsound conduct in its foreign exchange business” as a result of failing to implement proper controls during that time period, in which Deutsche Bank was the largest foreign exchange trader in the world. The bank had between 15 and 22 percent of the global foreign exchange market then, the department said.

“Due to Deutsche Bank's lax oversight in its foreign exchange business, including in some instances, supervisors engaging in improper activity, certain traders and salespeople repeatedly abused the trust of their customers and violated New York state law over the course of many years,” said DFS Superintendent Maria Vullo in a statement.

A bank spokesperson said on Wednesday, “Deutsche Bank is pleased to resolve the NYDFS' investigation into historical practices relating to its FX business and that the NYDFS has recognized our extensive cooperation and remediation. The settlement is fully covered by existing provisions.”

As part of the consent order, Deutsche Bank also agreed not to try to apply for a state, local or federal tax credit or deduction for any part of the civil monetary penalty. The bank also disciplined or terminated employees responsible for the misconduct and agreed not to retain or rehire any of them, according to the order.

Under the order, Deutsche Bank also agreed to take remedial actions and to submit plans to the department to increase senior management oversight of compliance with New York state laws and regulations of its foreign exchange trading business. The bank agreed to provide a written plan to improve its compliance risk management program with respect to state and federal laws and regulations, and to create an enhanced written internal audit program of its internal policies and procedures regarding applicable laws and regulations.

Deutsche Bank is licensed in New York to operate a foreign bank branch and a trust company, which together have combined assets of more than $220 billion, according to the order, which was signed by Deutsche Bank general counsel Florian Drinhausen; Dr. Mathias Otto, co-general counsel, Germany; New York branch general counsel Steven Reich; and Joseph Salama, managing director, legal. Kirkland & Ellis also represented the bank before regulators in the foreign exchange trading matter, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Vullo and executive deputy superintendent of enforcement Matthew Levine signed for DFS.

Deutsche Bank previously agreed to a $190 million preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit over allegations of foreign exchange rate price-fixing.