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DNB now risks a fine of NOK 400 million for violating the rules on preventing money laundering.
In that case, it will be by far the highest fine any Norwegian bank has ever been fined for violating money laundering rules. A fine of NOK 400 million is 22 times higher than the largest fine for money laundering Finanstilsynet has imposed to date. A fine of NOK 18 million was imposed on Komplett Bank for “serious and continuing non-compliance”.
DNB even announced the possible fine in a message Monday morning.
The bank stressed that the possible fine is not really about laundering money or helping clients with money laundering. Finanstilsynet’s criticisms refer to the bank’s work to comply with anti-money laundering regulations, a detailed set of rules that requires banks to keep a good overview of their own customers and cash flows.
The case has not been completed by Finanstilsynet. Notification of the fine appears in a preliminary report from the Authority, and the issue of the fine and the amount of the fine has yet to be clarified. DNB writes that they will now respond to Finanstilsynet’s preliminary report.
“As Finanstilsynet has not completed the case and finally concluded, DNB cannot delve into the content of the preliminary report,” the report states.
Investigated
It’s a February control visit that may now lead to the record fine.
DNB Executive Vice President of Communications Thomas Midteide estimates that it will take a few months before Finanstilsynet concludes.
– What do you think of the work you have done? Is there a basis for a fine?
– We must go to the report and respond to it. But we take criticism very seriously, we experience that the fight against economic crime has a very high priority at DNB. But it is a complex job, both because the criminals’ methods are changing and because the demands of the authorities are increasing all the time, says Midteide.
– We should probably realize that this is a job that we never reach the goal, but we work to improve all the time.
– Was it bad enough to report suspicious transactions?
– We send what we think is correct and important to send.
Among the many man-years in Norwegian banks large and small now working with the fight against money laundering, there has been tension over how Finanstilsynet would conclude. Since Finanstilsynet began imposing fines for poor prevention of money laundering, millions of dollars in fines have been imposed on several banks, such as Komplett Bank and Santander Consumer Bank, and smaller banks such as Hønefoss Sparebank and Åfjord Sparebank.
Fines are often calculated on the basis of the banks’ turnover. This means that DNB, which has a much higher turnover than the other banks, will more easily receive a much higher penalty. DNB writes in the stock exchange announcement that the fine considered imposed amounts to 0.7 percent of DNB’s turnover, and that the maximum that Finanstilsynet can impose is ten percent of a bank’s turnover.
Parallel to Finanstilsynet’s control over the prevention of money laundering at DNB, the bank is being investigated for money laundering in the Samherji case. The investigation concerns money allegedly passed from the Icelandic fishing company Samherji via DNB. Investigations in several countries are working to find out if, and how much, of more than NOK 600 million is related to possible bribes for fishing quotas in Namibia.
The investigation was recently transferred from Økokrim to the Attorney General, after Økokrim’s boss, Pål Lønseth, declared himself incompetent in the investigation.
Samherji emphasizes in an email to DN that the fine from Finanstilsynet is not related to the Samherji case, and that the possible fine is a case between the Norwegian Finanstilsynet and DNB.
Corporate clients
Finanstilsynet has carried out a series of inspections of Norway’s largest bank in recent years and has criticized the bank in several rounds. It is mainly the bank’s corporate client departments, not private clients, that have been criticized.
Finanstilsynet, among other things, has found signs of underreporting of suspicious matters: DNB has refrained from sending notifications of suspicious matters to Økokrim where they should have done so.
What Finanstilsynet now emphasizes in its criticism of DNB is not yet known. Neither DNB nor Finanstilsynet will publish the preliminary report. Communications advisor Kjetil Karsrud at Finanstilsynet confirms that the Authority is considering a fine of NOK 400 million for violating the Money Laundering Act, but will not comment further on the case: “Preliminary assessments are not public and Finanstilsynet cannot comment on the content of these, “he writes. in an email to DN. (Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be made with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
