Ex-Deutsche Bank Trader Gets Seven Years in Hong Kong Jail for Taking Bribes

A former managing director of Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong has been sentenced to seven years in jail for accepting bribes in exchange for information on derivatives warrants.

Ma Sin-chi, 39, was convicted on 6 December of four bribery charges. He had accepted a total of HK$24.8m ($3.2m, €2.3m, £1.9m) from investors in exchange for the internal information.

"There was a serious breach of trust," Hong Kong High Court Judge Patrick Li said of Ma's behaviour. The former manager was also ordered to pay Deutsche HK$24m.

The lawyer for Ma, Adrian Bell, had argued there was no evidence that Ma provided any confidential or improper information and he was doing his job in supplying information with the other defendants in the trial.

One of those was 62-year-old investor Ha but-yee, who was convicted of offering bribes to Ma.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, Michael West, commented that the case was against Ma personally, and that he had not worked at the bank since January 2012.

"There has been absolutely no suggestion of wrongdoing by Deutsche Bank," said West.

Deutsche said it had helped Hong Kong regulator the Independent Commission Against Corruption with the probe.

Deutsche Bank Strives to Improve Compliance

This sentencing of Ma comes just as Deutsche Bank appointed a top McKinsey consultant to take up a new role in compliance and risk management at the bank.

Deutsche Bank announced that Thomas Poppensieker, a 43-year-old consultant, will head a fresh effort from 1 January 2014 to tighten controls at the bank.

He will report directly to co-chief executives Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, Deutsche said in a statement.