SHARE
COPY LINK

DANSKE BANK

Danske Bank sets aside nearly €2 billion for expected fines

Danske Bank, which is under investigation by Danish and US authorities, said Thursday it had set aside an additional 14 billion kroner (1.9 billion euros) to cover expected fines related to massive suspected money laundering via its Estonian branch.

Danske Bank sets aside nearly €2 billion for expected fines
Bicycles outside a Danske Bank branch in Copenhagen. File photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

“The discussions with US and Danish authorities related to the Estonia matter are now at a stage where Danske Bank can reliably estimate the total financial impact of a potential coordinated resolution amounting to a total of DKK 15.5 billion” or $2.1 billion, the bank’s chief executive Carsten Egeriis said in a statement.

“Our dialogue with the authorities is ongoing, and while there is still uncertainty that a resolution will be reached, we hope that a resolution will be concluded before the end of this year,” he added.

The bank had already set aside 1.5 billion kroner in 2018 when the scandal first emerged.

An investigation carried out by an outside law firm for the bank found that it could not account for the origin of more than $220 billion that flowed through its Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015, much of which was suspected to have come from Russia.

Danske Bank’s shares soared more than 10 percent after the announcement, the first time it has provided any estimate of the fines it may face.

Copenhagen City Court is meanwhile currently hearing a money laundering case related to the bank’s disgraced branch in Estonian capital Tallinn.

In the case, a Danish-Russian woman is accused of laundering over 29 billion kroner through the bank in cooperation with a Lithuanian national, by using shell companies in Copenhagen.

The now-closed Tallinn Danske Bank branch was at the centre of the major money laundering scandal in 2018.

READ ALSO: Danish court jails woman in 4 billion euro money laundering case

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs hiring ‘child soldiers’

The justice ministers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are to meet representatives of the tech giants Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, to discuss how to stop their platforms being used by gang criminals in the region.

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs hiring 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.  

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.   

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country. 

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups. 

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region. 

SHOW COMMENTS