FRANKFURT: The US Securities and Exchange commission is investigating Deutsche Bank's asset management arm DWS over how it used sustainable investing criteria to manage its assets, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, sent DWS shares down 11.3%.

DWS and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice declined to comment on the WSJ report, while an SEC spokesperson said: "The SEC does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation."

The WSJ, citing unnamed sources, also reported that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, were looking into the matter as well.