The oldest bank in Sweden hires a law firm while the crisis of money laundering worsens

Swedbank has engaged the law firm Nordia, its external legal advisor, to conduct a criminal investigation into possible fraud amidst a growing money laundering scandal that engulfed the bank.

Last week, Swedbank sacked general manager Birgitte Bonnesen for laundering allegations against Sweden's oldest bank and the biggest mortgage lender, Bloomberg said. The Swedish and Estonian financial supervisors, as well as the US authorities, are investigating the lender, who is said to be part of Danske Bank's $ 230 billion Estonian scandal. Swedbank's share price has fallen by about a third since the beginning of the case on February 20th.

The Stockholm-based lender issued a Nordia statement on Sunday in which he disputed the prosecutor's badessment in the Swedish media that Swedbank had not cooperated.

In February, Danske Bank announced a 28% drop in earnings in 2018, reduced its dividend and pledged to spend about $ 300 million to strengthen financial crime protections.

The bank is currently under investigation in Denmark, Estonia, Great Britain and the United States for suspicious payment through the intermediary of its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015 and could make facing heavy fines.

The largest bank in Denmark has reported a drop in customer satisfaction, both for individuals and businesses, and that it would spend up to DKK 2 billion (US $ 307 million). ) to intensify its efforts to combat money laundering, such as improving computer systems and hiring compliance personnel. .

Nordia said on Sunday that the prosecutor had alleged that Swedbank "had not cooperated during the search in the desired manner, but on the contrary, it had obstructed the search by not lifting the privilege of professional secrecy. lawyer and confidentiality "is" completely incorrect and incomprehensible ".

According to Nordia, "it was pointed out that the information covered by the solicitor-client privilege can not be seized". The law firm stated that the prosecutor's subsequent decision to seize the documents was "in direct conflict with Swedish law".

According to Nordia's recommendations, Swedbank placed the documents in a sealed envelope which clearly indicates that the document in question is subject to professional secrecy, said Nordia.

The Swedish authorities on Wednesday raided the Swedbank headquarters as part of the investigation into the bank's handling of money laundering allegations at its Baltic branches.

State broadcaster SVT also said that Swedbank may have misled US investigators into customer transactions related to Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm at the center of the global tax fraud and money laundering scandal. 'money.

Swedish, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian regulators opened a joint investigation on Swedbank after SVT reported allegations in February that at least 40 billion Swedish kronor (15.79 billion dirhams) had been suspicious transactions between the Swedbank and Danske Bank Baltic accounts over the same period, according to Reuters.

Swedbank is defending itself on several fronts: Bill Browder, an investor in the fight against money laundering, has filed a separate complaint with the Swedish authorities and SVT has previously reported that internal documents show that Swedbank's board of directors knew that he had missed suspicious transactions, but that he had not taken any corrective action. action.

Swedbank has in each case declared that it can not comment on specific transactions or details about customers because of bank secrecy laws.

SVT announced Wednesday that it had obtained confidential documents showing that Swedbank had told the New York State Financial Services Department that he had only Swedish and Norwegian clients related to Mossack Fonseca.

This is despite the fact that a number of companies with links to the law firm have been dealing with Swedbank in the Baltic states, said SVT.

Neither the United States Embbady in Sweden, which in February had asked the country's financial supervisory body to convene a meeting to discuss allegations concerning Swedbank, nor the financial control officer of Sweden had had immediate comment at the time.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment, while the United States Department of Justice and the New York State Department of Financial Services were not immediately reachable for comments outside normal US office hours at the time.