WestLB is to pull out of equity proprietary trading following the loss of an estimated €100m ($136m) from bad bets on shares in German carmaker Volkswagen. The trades have since sparked a regulatory probe of the business as well as criminal proceedings by the bank against two of its former staff.

WestLB moved quickly to stem concerns over its trading business in the wake of the share trades before Easter, setting up an external taskforce to examine whether its internal rules were breached by the deals.