Germany's DekaBank says has launched internal probe

FRANKFURT, March 1 (Reuters) - Germany's DekaBank DSUGUD.UL has launched an investigation into its own internal business procedures in order to determine if any mistakes in its trading activities had been made, a bank spokesman told Reuters late Sunday.

German newspaper Handelsblatt, citing banking sources, said in a prerelease of its Monday edition that traders in DekaBank's equities trading business may have seriously violated requirements by apparently failing to implement certain directives emanating from the executive board.

Handelsblatt said a DekaBank spokesman declined comment to the newspaper but he had confirmed that the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, had examined the matter and that the DekaBank management board had started an internal investigation.

DekaBank is owned by the public sector bank Landesbanken and is Germany's largest manager of property funds.

Dekabank on Feb. 27 revised down its net income for 2008 after auditors revalued its securities portfolio.