Danske Bank: a money laundering scandal

Plan:
1. Accusation
2. Criminal beginning
3. Warnings from regulators
4. Suspicious activity
5. Whistleblower
6. The closure of non-resident business in Estonia
7. Possible punishment

Accusation: 28th of November 2018 - The Danish public prosecutor for serious economic and international crime
€200bn
2007-2015

Flow of dirty money
the Estonian branch of Danske Bank
Between 2007-2015 the Estonian branch of Danske Bank became a pipeline for dirty money flowing out of Russia, Azerbaijan and Moldova

The Beginning
2007 - Danske Bank established its Estonian unit after takeover a Finland Sampo Bank

2008 - the Estonian branch generated 8% of Danske’s total profits before tax

accounting for 0,5% of the
bank’s assets

Warnings from Estonian regulators and Russian central bank

non-residental portfolio
n
Suspicious activity

Mirror trades
the exact same
securities
purchase
sale

2013 - JPMorgan (a correspondent bank for dollar transactions for Danske in Estonia) quit - a massive warning signal

2013 - An internal email was written by a whistleblower

2014 - Danske’s internal auditors produced a critical report about the non-resident business

In 2016 Danske
completed
the closure
of its
non-resident
Business
in Estonia

2018 – Danske bank is facing criminal investigations from the US Department of Justice and Estonian authorities

Possible punishment
$8bn fine
Bank liquidation
Another US actions