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Swedbank Staff Hid Know-Your-Customer Data from AML Compliance

By Koos Couvée

Employees of Swedbank Estonia's nonresident unit kept data on the true owners of certain high-risk, foreign legal entities they served hidden from their colleagues in anti-money laundering compliance for years as the lender processed tens of billions of euros in suspicious funds. In a 218-page report on its 13-month internal investigation, global law firm Clifford Chance claimed Monday to have found no evidence that the entire banking group as an institution knowingly laundered funds, but concluded that poor governance and substandard compliance practices, especially in the Baltics, exposed the lender to significant financial-crime risks. "From before 2007, until a decision...

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