In the fall, explained the bank’s ceo Birgitte Bonnesen that the bank was not involved in penningtvättskandalen in the Baltic countries, which threaten to tip over to Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest bank.
Swedbank had checked the names of a handful of people who were in a study on Danish and they were not customers of Swedbank, thus, was not Swedbank indented.
And so in Wednesday morning, four months later, capriciously bomb – SVT’s uppdrag granskning reveals that the 50 people in barely a decade carried out the suspect transactions in the sek 40 billion from Swedbank to Danske Bank. The bank’s management is at a loss.
not having an emergency plan ready, even before the Mandate Review comes with its disclosure because its management has known that the program would come.
And it is naive to think that just because you have not found a number of specific names, so there is no money laundering.
the Year 2014 was reported one million suspected cases of attempted money laundering to countries finanspoliser, according to Europol, the EU police cooperation.
Still appreciate Europol to authorities only seized on a percentage of the money that organised crime in the EUROPEAN union amounts to.
on money laundering. They have a framework to follow, but it is not enough. They must be far more active, analyse large quantities of data, sharing of information and thus help to find the professional penningtvättarna.
It was the former Europolchefen Rob wainwright’s message when he left office in the last year, frustrated that so little is done at EUROPEAN level in order to access the money laundering.
But it is not only Swedbank, which behaved less successful in the latest deal. It also applies the Swedish financial supervisory authority (FI).
a brief press release where the responsibility for the supervision bollades to the baltic authorities. Late on Thursday came the message that the FI and the Estonian financial supervision authority jointly shall investigate Swedbank.
the Most amazing thing is the Travel Industry revealing that a senior manager in the FI in the fall of the authority’s intranet, wrote to the Swedish banks ‘ customers in the Baltic countries was not as rich as Danskes.
”this means that The Swedish banks do not nor would be hit particularly hard if the problem would arise in the Baltic countries”.
It is only ten years ago, Swedbank was about to go crashing down in the financial crisis because of lack of confidence and risky lending in the Baltic countries.
penningtvätthärvan that could, if proved, threaten Swedbank with mångmiljardböter. It is about a systemically important bank; the trust for it is in society’s interest.
given that Mission Review has promised to come up with further revelations in the next week, we hope that both the bank and the FI is a little better prepared.
Because the world is not a Sörgårdsidyll only populated by conscientious and law-abiding people, perhaps it is time for a touch more suspicion with the authorities and the banks – and much less naivete.
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