The fine, “is the largest ever imposed in Denmark in the field of money laundering”
Denmark’s largest bank, Danske Bank will pay 3.5 billion kroner (€470 million) fine in Denmark to stop prosecution of a massive money-laundering scandal involving its Estonian subsidiary, the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority announced today.
The fine, announced the day after the settlement of the US proceedings on the same matter for a payment of 2 billion dollars, “is the largest that has ever been imposed in Denmark, in the field of money laundering”, revealed the prosecutor Jens-Christian Bülow, which the notice refers to.
“It is extremely serious that a bank does not have corporate governance and necessary internal controls in the field of money laundering and does not react correctly and quickly to warnings regarding a possible money laundering”, he underlined.
The banking institution, which had admitted loopholes in the origin of money laundering between 2007 and 2015 amounting to around 200 billion euros through its Estonian subsidiary, has since invested heavily to comply with current legislation in the sector.
In 2018, an internal audit found “a number of significant gaps” in the bank’s governance and control systems, and its chief executive Thomas Borgen resigned.
Borgen, who was being sued by a group of international investors, was recently acquitted at trial.
In addition to the fine, the Danish state seized 1.25 billion kroner (168 million euros) in profits from transactions in its Estonian subsidiary, which has now been closed, as well as those in the other Baltic countries and its Russian subsidiary.
In the United States, Danske Bank pleaded guilty and agreed on Tuesday to pay $2 billion to settle investigations into US bank fraud.
This amount was announced at the end of October during the publication of the third quarter results.
Since the end of 2017, the group’s stock has lost half its value. On the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, the share remained stable at 129 kroner today at 16.30 Greek time
RES-EMP
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