In an effort to thwart market abuse, Deutsche Bank is voluntarily implementing a policy of monitoring staff e-mail at its U.K. investment-banking unit. "After discussions between compliance and senior management," Andrew Proctor, DB head of compliance for the U.K. and Western Europe, told Reuters, "we see it as a prudent to monitor our email...to reduce the risk of breaches."
Unlike the U.S., there is no e-mail monitoring requirement in the U.K., but the bank has been presumably considering keeping an eye on the e-communications since two years ago when the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority investigated a bank official over information in an e-mail that allegedly misrepresented the outcome of sales of shares. Proctor insists, however, that the program, which has been under consideration for several months, is not the result of any one incident.