FRANKFURT, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank
said on Friday that it had fined German state-owned bank Helaba
for "consciously" misrepresenting its exposure to turbulent
financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic so it would need
less capital.
The 6.83 million euro ($7.29 million) fine, while small for
a bank that reported net profit of more than 200 million euros
in 2021, is the second-largest levied by the ECB since taking
over supervision of the euro zone's biggest lenders in 2014.
The fine highlights the ECB's increased scrutiny of the
models that banks use for calculating risk, which has also had
repercussions for Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Germany's Deutsche
Bank.
"When using its internal models to determine its
risk-weighted assets for market risk (in 2020), the bank
consciously decided to disregard the increased volatility," the
ECB said.
"The bank knowingly reported wrongly calculated figures to
the ECB, therefore preventing the ECB from having a
comprehensive view of its risk profile."
Helaba said in a statement that it did not intend to breach
its prudential obligations, but conceded that its "original
assumption" was incorrect. It added that it had already taken
steps to improve its models.
($1 = 0.9373 euros)
(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Messaging: francesco.canepa.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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