Deutsche Bank said efforts by the City of Los Angeles to sue Germany's largest lender for its alleged role in loan foreclosures were misguided.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has filed this lawsuit against the wrong party, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

As we have repeatedly advised them, it is loan servicers, and not Deutsche Bank as trustee, that are contractually responsible for both the maintenance of foreclosed properties and any actions taken with respect to tenants of foreclosed properties.

Deutsche Bank further said it had offered to help the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office to contact the loan servicers that are responsible for maintaining the properties in question, adding that the Attorney's office had not told it which properties it meant.

The suit follows a separate $1 billion lawsuit by the U.S. government filed on Tuesday, accusing the German bank of fraud for repeatedly lying to obtain federal guarantees on mortgages it issued.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor)

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