Dec 13 (Reuters) - German banking regulator Bafin hasdemanded documents from Deutsche Bank as part of aprobe into suspected manipulation of benchmark gold and silverprices by banks, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.
Bafin has interrogated the bank's staff during severalon-site inspections over the past few months, the newspaper saidon its website, citing people familiar with the matter.()
Currently, gold fixing happens twice a day by teleconferencewith five banks: Deutsche Bank, Bank of NovaScotia-ScotiaMocatta, Barclays Bank Plc, HSBCBank USA, NA and Société Générale. The fixings areused to determine prices globally.
Deutsche Bank is also one of three banks that take part inthe equivalent process for silver.
In the wake of the recent Libor interbank lending scandal,questions have been raised about how benchmark rates are set,prompting authorities and banking industry bodies worldwide tooverhaul rate-setting processes.
When the probe was first reported in November, similarinvestigations in the United States and Britain were alsoreported to be under way.
The same month, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority hadasked those who administer major, non-interest rate-relatedbenchmarks, including gold, to assess by July next year how theycomply with new global regulatory principles governing all typesof indexes following the Libor scandal.
Bafin and Deutsche Bank were not available to commentoutside regular business hours.