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Deutsche Bank 'cuts ties with Donald Trump': US media

January 12, 2021

The Frankfurt-based lender is to stop doing business with the outgoing US president, according to reports by the New York Times and Bloomberg. The Trump Organization owes the bank some €280 million in loans.

https://p.dw.com/p/3noLI
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a fist during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 202
US media reports say Deutsche Bank executives are uneasy about the negative publicity surrounding the US president after his fradulent claims that the election was stolen.Image: Jim Bourg/REUTERS

Deutsche Bank will refuse to do business with President Donald Trump or his companies after his supporters' deadly Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol, media reports said on Monday.

The New York Times and the Bloomberg news agency, citing company sources, said the German lender had ruled out any future ties with the billionaire real estate mogul once he leaves office.

David Enrich on Trump and Deutsche Bank

The president's umbrella company, the Trump Organization, owes the Frankfurt-based institution about $340 million (€280 million) in loans.

Neither Deutsche Bank nor the White House has commented on the reports.

Deutsche Bank's headquarters in Frankfurt
Trump has been a longtime client of the Frankfurt-based lender Image: A. Pulwey/blickwinkel/McPHOTO/picture-alliance

Christiana Riley, the head of the bank's US operations, took to professional networking site LinkedIn last week to condemn the violence.

"We are proud of our Constitution and stand by those who seek to uphold it to ensure that the will of the people is upheld and a peaceful transition of power takes place," she wrote.

Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank resigned last month. Rosemary Vrablic, who worked in the private banking division, helped arrange hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to Trump’s company over a number of years. 

That relationship subjected the lender to pressure from lawmakers and prosecutors for information during Trump's presidency.

The reports follow similar decisions by other companies to cut ties with the president after he encouraged attendees at a rally to march on the Capitol.

Facebook and Twitter have banned Trump from their platforms, while the Professional Golfers' Association of America has stripped one of his New Jersey courses of the right to host its 2022 tournament.

The march turned violent last week when Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol Building and interrupted the certification of the electoral college vote. At least five people died in the unrest and its immediate aftermath.

jf/msh (AP, Reuters)