Swedbank Cleared of Money Laundering by Estonian Prosecutor
By Dominic Chopping
STOCKHOLM--Swedbank has been cleared of money laundering by Estonian prosecutors, ending a years-long probe into the Swedish bank.
Swedbank had been under investigation for governance deficiencies related to anti-money laundering measures in its Baltic subsidiaries after a Swedish TV show reported in 2019 that billions of dollars of potentially illicit funds might have passed through the bank's Estonian branch.
The Estonian State Prosecutor's Office had been investigating whether money was laundered within Swedbank's Estonian subsidiary between 2014 and 2016, but it has found that no crime was committed and the investigation is therefore being closed, Swedbank said.
"With the decision of the prosecutor in Estonia, we can leave yet another investigation of historical shortcomings behind us," said Tomas Hedberg, head of a special task force at Swedbank.
Last year the bank agreed to pay more than $3.4 million to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to settle allegations its subsidiary in Latvia processed transactions that violated U.S. sanctions on Crimea.
The Swedish financial regulator FSA handed Swedbank a 4 billion Swedish kronor ($387.1 million) fine in 2020 after finding the lender's Baltic operations had serious deficiencies in its anti-money laundering measures as well as shortcomings in its cooperation with the investigation.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 29, 2024 08:09 ET (13:09 GMT)
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