Christian Sewing involuntarily shudders whenever he hears police sirens now.

We don’t get out of bed for a Deutsche Bank fine of less than $100 million, because really who has the time, and also because anything less is very literally only a drop in the bucket of the $20 billion-plus the other DB has had to part ways with for being naughty over the last few years. There are, of course, exceptions, such as the rare occasion when the bank has done something smart, like settling bribery allegations for $13 million that really should have cost it a lot more than $13 million. Or today’s news that the Deutsches are paying €15 million (more) to settle some (additional) money-laundering allegations. This settlement is notable for two reasons: The first is that the two employees who looked like they might have to go to jail over the whole thing are not, and the second is that the bank would presumably have paid a lot more than €15 million to keep all of those police cars from very publicly surrounding its headquarters.

The bank and the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office said in statements Friday afternoon that the settlement reflects shortcomings in Deutsche Bank’s compliance and filing of suspicious-activity reports involving German clients connected to offshore accounts from 2015 to 2018….

The investigation had a “heavy impact” on Deutsche Bank last year, spokesman Joerg EIgendorf said in the bank’s statement…. The November 2018 raid in the now-closed Frankfurt investigation rattled investors after images circulated of police cars lined up outside Deutsche Bank’s headquarters. The action involved roughly 170 police officers and other officials who searched six properties, including one employee’s home, authorities said at the time.

Deutsche Bank Agrees to Pay €15 Million in Money-Laundering Probe [WSJ]