COPENHAGEN–Denmark has charged the Nordic bank Nordea with laundering 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) for Russian clients, the country’s financial prosecutors said Friday.
“Nordea did not adequately investigate transactions by Russian clients of the bank and ignored warnings about foreign exchange trades in Copenhagen,” Denmark’s National Special Crime Unit said in a statement.
The alleged laundering happened between 2012 and 2015.
Nordea, which is based in Helsinki, said it expected to pay a fine and had set money aside for provisions in 2019.
“We are disappointed that this affair has been brought in front of the courts,” Nordea’s chief legal counsel Anders Holkmann Olsen said in a statement. “Nordea has recognized on several occasions that at the time there were lapses in our systems and processes for fighting financial crime.” The bank said it has spent 11 billion kroner ($1.6 billion) since 2015 to prevent financial crimes.