The co-managing partner is one of the largest single owners of the bank.

The managing partner of Germany-based Berenberg, Hendrik Riehmer, has been cleared of insider trading. Accusations against him were “completely unfounded”, the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office said.

In March last year, a probe was initiated against Riehmer in connection with an investigation into two acquaintances who gained €3.2 million ($3.48 million) from trading the stock of shipping business Hapag-Lloyd (Financial News, 12 February). 

Berenberg had already announced immediately after the preliminary proceedings became known that the bank “firmly believes that the suspicion will not be confirmed”. With the discontinuation of the proceedings, this has now been officially confirmed, it said in an emailed statement yesterday. 

“I am glad that the responsible investigating authority has now, after about a year of investigative work, come to the conclusion that the accusations were unfounded and that the reputation of myself and our bank is therefore not further damaged by this issue,” Riehmer said.

The bank, which provides wealth management among its range of offerings, was not accused of any malpractice. Riehmer is co-managing partner at Berenberg with Hans-Walter Peters.