Swedbank AB, a large Nordic banking group headquartered in Stockholm, announced that it has appointed an independent auditing firm to investigate information aired on a local news program, alleging that Swedbank was involved in money laundering in Estonia in conjunction with Danske Bank.
In a joint statement released today, the Estonian and Swedish Financial Supervisory Authorities, the Eesti Finantsinspektioon (Estonian FSA) and the Finansinspektionen (the Swedish FSA) said that they had agreed to initiate a joint investigation into the same allegations of money laundering by various financial institutions in Estonia. The Latvian FSA and the Bank of Lithuania also agreed to participate in the investigation.
Separately, Danske Bank A/S announced that, in addition to the investigation underway by the US Department of Justice, the bank has received an inquiry from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank said that it is cooperating in both the DOJ and the SEC investigations.
Joint Statement | Swedbank press release | Danske Bank press release