Prosecutors visit DWS offices again over alleged greenwashing

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The Deutsche Bank-owned asset manager DWS said that prosecutors visited its offices on Thursday in an ongoing investigation into accusations of greenwashing.

It is the second visit in two weeks.

Starting in 2021, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic began investigating accusations sparked by a whistleblower that DWS may have misled investors by marketing its funds as greener than they actually were.

U.S. regulators said in September that DWS was due to pay $25 million to settle charges over misstatements regarding its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and failures in policies designed to prevent money laundering.

Investigations in Germany are still ongoing.

"We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities in order to come to a resolution of this investigation as quickly as possible," DWS said on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Frankfurt's prosecutors confirmed a search was currently underway following a warrant granted earlier in the week by a local court.

The prosecutor spokesperson said that three prosecutors and 30 police officers were involved, and that DWS was cooperating.

(Reporting by Tom SimsEditing by Madeline Chambers and Tomasz Janowski)