PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: James B. Ropp, Securities Commissioner

Securities Division

Phone: (302) 577-8925

Date: August 23, 2005



DELAWARE RECEIVES $287,500.00 IN SETTLEMENT WITH DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES IN SECURITIES ANALYST RESEARCH CASE



(Wilmington, DE): Attorney General M. Jane Brady announced today that under the terms of a settlement between the Securities Division of the Attorney General's Office and Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., Delaware has received $287,500.00 in fines arising out of a multistate investigation of securities analyst research practices. The settlement results from allegations of conflicts of interest at certain brokerage houses, where research analysts recommended stocks as a result of improper influence from their investment banking colleagues. The settlement followed the investigation of Deutsche Bank by State Regulators, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the NASD, Inc., and the New York Stock Exchange. The settlement is connected with the April 2003 Global settlements which resulted in ten other investment banks settling with Delaware and other State, Federal and Industry Regulators. 



Pursuant to the terms of the multistate agreement, Deutsche Bank will pay all settling agencies a total of $87.5 million; $25 million in disgorgement, $25 million as penalty for various conflicts of interest, $25 million to fund independent research, $5 million to fund and promote investor education, and $7.5 million for failing to properly produce e-mails and thereby delaying by over a year the investigation into its activities. Delaware's portion of the settlement is $287,500. The monies received in the form of fines and penalties will, by statute, be directed to the Delaware Investor Protection Fund to fund prosecution of securities fraud cases, provide for investor education programs for Delaware investors and train Securities Division staff.



Under the terms of the settlement, Deutsche Bank is also required to distribute $2.5 million to the Investor Protection Trust (IPT), a national investor education organization which will use the money to fund investor education initiatives on the state and national levels. The IPT is an established charitable organization with experience in handling settlement funds and a history of investor education successes. 



"This investigation and settlement, and the preceding resolution of investigations into the ten other banks' practices are part of a comprehensive regulatory effort to reform relationships between investment banking and research analysts to appropriately end conflicts of interests," said Attorney General Brady. "A consumer should be able to trust that the information and recommendations their broker gives them are accurate and independent of improper influences," added Brady. 





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