Big Nordic banks involved in money laundering fraud

Two of the Nordics' biggest banks, Nordea and Danske Bank, are involved in a money laundering scandal that involves billions of Danish krona, reports Berlingske.  They are cooperating with authorities over possible incidents of money laundering via their overseas branches from 2011 to 2014, it added.
The Danish newspaper cites investigations into authorities in countries including Latvia and Moldova, which show that large amounts of money passed through Danish banks into tax havens like the Seychelles and Panama. The origin of the money is not certain, but sources point to Russian organized crime. Meanwhile, according to Berlingske, fourteen Moldovan judges have been arrested and are awaiting trial for aiding the perpetrators.

Danske Bank said in a press release that the transactions were almost exclusively carried out at its Estonian branch, and that the bank had already discussed them with Danish and Estonian authorities. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority reprimanded it over the matter last year, it said.

"At the time, our systems and procedures in Estonia were insufficient to ensure that we could not be used for money laundering," Group General Counsel at Danske Bank Flemming Pristed said in the press release. "We have taken the measures necessary to remedy this," he said.

A Nordea spokesman said the bank would "never tolerate" being used as a base for money laundering. Over the transactions, they took place between 2012 and 2014, adding the bank had since begun an extensive program against money laundering. "We will of course cooperate fully with the authorities," the Nordea spokesman said.
Earlier this month, the Danish financial supervisory authority Finanstilsynet criticized danish banks' inadequate measures to counteract money laundering, writes Dagens Industri.