Timeframe for investigations into Swedish banks’ management of money laundering risks in the Baltics

2019-08-23 | News Money laundering Bank

During the month of July, FI sent notification letters to SEB and Swedbank as part of the investigations into the banks’ management and control of money laundering risks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The notification letters are part of FI's investigation process. They contain FI's observations and in some cases also preliminary assessments. The banks are now able to check that FI has understood the facts correctly. SEB and Swedbank must respond to the notification letters no later than 2 September and 16 September, respectively.

As previously communicated, FI's investigations into these banks' management and control of money laundering risks in the Baltics are being conducted in cooperation with the supervisory authorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This means that the supervisory authorities are coordinating the activities together and sharing information and assessments. This is necessary for FI to be able to receive more detailed information about the conditions in the Baltic subsidiaries. FI's investigations aim to assess the Swedish banks' management and control of money laundering risks in their Baltic operations from 2007 onward. The Baltic authorities are simultaneously conducting investigations or other supervision activities to assess each subsidiary's compliance with local regulations.

FI plans to communicate the results of the investigations no later than the beginning of next year, which is later than FI previously indicated. The main reason is the considerable amount of material in the investigations.

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