Bank scandal spreads further

New York’s financial regulator is asking two Nordic banks for detailed information about their transactions with Danske Bank as part of a burgeoning investigation into global money laundering.

The two banks, Nordea Bank of Finland and SEB of Sweden, must also give New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) more information about their work with Mossack Fonseca, a law firm that set up tax shelters for wealthy individuals around the world, according to a source, citing letters sent to the banks this week.

The broad request for information came the same day that Swedbank’s chief executive was fired after investors said she had played down the seriousness of the bank’s exposure to the scandal. The bank also reportedly withheld information from regulators including the DFS.

There’s no indication that Nordea or SEB are a target of the investigation. But the DFS letters, as described by the source, suggest the regulator wasn’t satisfied with the information it received after a similar request in February.

A spokesman for the DFS declined to comment. In an emailed comment sent by spokeswoman Afroditi Kellberg, Nordea said it is co- operating closely with authorities “in all the countries where we operate”.

Combating financial crime is part of our daily operations,” said Nordea. “In cases where we see suspicious transactions, we report it to the authorities for them to take forward.

An SEB spokesman said the bank has “continuous contact” with the authorities that supervise the markets.

SEB chief executive Johan Torgeby said this week that his bank had “found no indication” that “we have systematically been used for money laundering”.

Still, Mr Torgeby said: “I can never guarantee that we have never been the victim of a financial crime or money laundering.”

Revelations that Danske Bank helped move much of €200m in mostly Russian money to the western banking system has broadened into one of the biggest money-laundering scandals in history.

As authorities have dug into the matter, other banks in the region have come under scrutiny. The DFS’s letters in February focused on Mossack Fonseca, whose secret files about wealthy clients were stolen and leaked on a mass scale in 2015.