The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has reached a settlement with Deutsche Bank over allegations that the bank manipulated the California energy markets in 2010.
The agreement, announced late on Tuesday, includes a $1.5 million fine against Deutsche Bank, which also must surrender around $170,000 in profits related to the energy trading activity.
The settlement is the latest effort by the U.S. agency, which oversees the oil, natural gas and electricity sectors, to clamp down on market abuses.
The F.E.R.C. is also levying a $470 million penalty against the British bank Barclays related to alleged questionable trading activity, though Barclays is challenging the accusations. The financial penalty would be the largest ever fine from the energy regulator.
The regulator has also banned JPMorgan Chase’s U.S. energy rading unit from participating in a number of U.S. energy markets for six months after some of the firm’s employees provided false information during an investigation into market manipulation.
In its latest settlement with Deutsche Bank, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said some of the bank’s employees had entered into a number of transactions in early 2010 that unfairly benefited the bank.
‘‘Deutsche Bank violated the commission’s anti-manipulation rule by engaging in a scheme in which Deutsche Bank entered into physical transactions to benefit its financial position,’’ the F.E.R.C. said in a statement.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had originally proposed the fine last September. The statement late Tuesday said Deutsche Bank neither admitted nor denied the allegations, adding that the bank failed to reduce the financial penalty during negotiations.
