“It is extremely important that this societal problem is counteracted by banks doing what they can to prevent criminals from laundering gains from criminal activities or organisations and people from financing terrorism.”
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Nordea has not complied with the rules for several years, according to FI.
The Nordic banking giant had not evaluated risks associated with different customer groups and was often unaware whether it even had any high risk customers.
The financial watchdog also slammed as “extremely substandard” the bank’s automatic system for checking transactions.
FI said the bank had received a “remark” and was fined in 2013 for similar deficiences but its failure to do anything to properly counteract money laundering meant it was now facing an official warning and the highest possible fine.
Systems put in place by Handelsbanken were also deficient and meant the bank “ran a high risk of being used by people to launder money or finance terrorism.”