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According to an official report from the Financial Supervisory Authority, SEB branches in the Baltic States have experienced a “higher risk of money laundering”, both due to their geographical location and the relatively significant number of risky customers. The Authority notes that SEB has not identified money laundering risks well enough for non-resident clients and domestic clients with foreign owners. Furthermore, SEB allegedly did not adequately address the money laundering prevention deficiencies identified by the bank’s own specialists. Finally, the bank allegedly spent very few resources to monitor transactions.
“Despite the increased risk of money laundering in the Baltic countries, the bank has done too little and too late,” said Erik Thedéen, head of the Financial Supervisory Authority.
The official report of the Financial Supervisory Authority focuses on the Estonian division of SEB. Last year, the bank itself recognized that through its branches in the Baltic States in 2005-2018. A billion-dollar cash flow of uncertain origin has flowed. Most of it is 25.8 billion. EUR – went to the SEB branch in Estonia.
SEB’s unexpected confession about suspicious amounts of money appeared the day before an international investigation by Swedish SVT television with partners in the Baltic countries (including Siena). According to leaked dekio bankas data, the investigation showed that Russia’s dirty and even blood-stained money could flow through SEB. You can find this study here.
The Financial Supervisory Authority carried out an investigation into SEB’s money laundering prevention in cooperation with the supervisory authorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The period under review covered the years 2015-2019. In evaluating SEB’s operations in Sweden, no breaches of the anti-money laundering requirements were identified.
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