The Danish unit for special crime (NSK) is bringing charges against Nordea for suspected crimes against the regulations on money laundering 2012-2015. Transactions of at least 26 billion Danish kronor are in focus.
Nordea's share falls 1.6 percent after the charges.
The Nordea investigation has been on the Danish prosecutor's desk since the summer of 2016, but has now resulted in a decision to bring charges. The case is described by NSK as the largest of its kind in the Danish banking sector of all time – i.e. larger than the major Danske Bank case.
"Nordea disagrees with the authorities' legal assessment of the case", writes Nordea in a press release.
The charges are directed against the bank and not against any individual persons. When the trial will be held is not yet decided.
NSK claims that Nordea has committed crimes against the regulations on money laundering during the years 2012-2015. Nordea is accused, among other things, of having turned a blind eye to suspected transactions by Russian customers. It is also about inadequate controls at exchange offices in Copenhagen, writes NSK in a press release.
"Historically weak processes"
Nordea already made a provision of 95 million euros in 2019 to cover expected costs for money laundering-related cases and the bank assesses that it is sufficient to cover what is now pending.
"As previously announced, Nordea expects fines in Denmark for historically weak processes and routines for combating money laundering and has made a provision for ongoing money laundering cases", writes Nordea in the press release.
"Nordea has cooperated and given full insight to the Danish authorities for nearly nine years and looks forward to a court decision", adds the major bank.
According to previous Danish newspaper reports, the investigation has, among other things, concerned inadequate control of Russian bank customers, who received millions from tax havens, as well as transactions related to suspected financing of terrorism.
FI dropped Nordea case
Nordea has previously also been involved in leaks that have shown how suspected billion transactions with connections to Russia and Kazakhstan have been made by Nordea customers 2013-2017.
The Financial Supervisory Authority (FI) in Sweden established in 2015 that Nordea had "major deficiencies in its work to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism" and issued a warning and a fine of 50 million kronor.
FI wrote off another case in 2022 where they investigated deficiencies in Nordea's Swedish branch's application of the regulations on money laundering.
