Swedish financial control officials say Danske Bank has “flaws” in its anti-money laundering organization, and that the bank's representatives underestimate the ability of criminals to use their services for criminal purposes. The financial institution was obliged to correct all of the listed deficiencies by June 2022.
At the same time, the representatives of the financial control consider the terms during which the bank is trying to eliminate the existing shortcomings in the work unsatisfactory.
“The Bank has been taking multi-year measures to strengthen control over financial crime and has made significant progress since 2019. We continue to work towards completing this work by the end of 2023, ”said Satnam Lehal, Deputy Director of Danske Bank, amid criticism from the Swedish authorities.
Lehal added that the bank “has already identified the need to work more actively to assess the risks associated with products and services,” but stressed that regulatory authorities are demanding from Danske Bank to complete reforms in the area of combating money laundering in a shorter time than planned. initially.
Earlier, Danske Bank was involved in one of the largest scandals involving money laundering through its branch in Estonia. The facts indicating the possible laundering of funds coming from the post-Soviet countries were revealed in 2014 by the Estonian financial inspection, after one of the traders drew attention to the "suspicious" transactions. Checks in the structures of Danske Bank lasted for about two years. The media reported that over 200 billion euros were laundered through the bank's accounts from 2007 to 2015. Ten Danske Bank managers have been indicted on money laundering charges.
