Danske Bank says US probing money laundering claims

COPENHAGEN: Danske Bank said it was being investigated by the US Department of Justice over possible money laundering related to more than US$ 200 billion transferred through the Danish lender’s Estonian branch.

Denmark’s largest lender is at the centre of a maelstrom and several probes after it said ‘a large part’ of the transactions totalling 200 billion euros ( US$ 235 billion) between 2007 and 2015 were ‘suspicious’.

“Danske Bank has also now received requests for information from the US Department of Justice ( DOJ) in connection with a criminal investigation relating to the bank’s Estonian branch conducted by the DOJ,” the bank said.

“We are cooperating with the authorities investigating us as a result of the case. However, it is too early to speculate on any outcome,” interim CEO Jesper Nielsen said in a statement.

Described by commentators as ‘ the biggest money-laundering scandal in Europe,’ the case shook the nation’s banking sector and forced Danske’s chief executive to resign.

Denmark, like its Nordic neighbours, is considered an example of transparent governance, and the amount of the suspicious transactions is 10 times Estonia’s national output in 2014. Danske Bank – whose shares were down by more than four per cent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in late trading on Thursday – might face US fines, the Danish business daily Borsen said.

Denmark’s financial market watchdog has ordered Danske to set aside 10 billion Danish kroner (1.34 billion euros, US$ 1.5 billion) to ensure it can remain solvent. — AFP