In late 2013, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $1.9-billion to settle claims that it defrauded U.S. government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, America’s biggest providers of housing finance, into buying $14.2-billion in mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis. “Deutsche Bank has no intent to settle these potential civil claims anywhere near the number cited,” the company said in a statement early Friday in Frankfurt. It described the proposed amount as an "opening position" put forward by the Justice Department in negotiations that were just beginning. The bank expects that they will lead to an outcome similar to those of peer banks which have settled at materially lower amounts.”

Germany’s largest lender confirmed that it had started negotiations with the justice department to settle civil claims the US may consider over the bank’s issuing and underwriting of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007. The $14 billion is considered an “opening bid” that could go “much lower,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the figure shortly before Deutsche Bank issued its statement. In 2013, JPMorgan Chase & Co ( ) agreed to pay $13 billion to settle allegations by the U.S. authorities that it overstated the quality of mortgages it was selling to investors in the run-up to the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
The Obama administration through the U.S. Justice Department seeks a fine of $14 billion against Deutsche Bank in regards to mortgage securities.