FILE PHOTO: Swedbank sign is seen on the local headquarters building in Tallinn, Estonia March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
June 17, 2019
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedbank said on Monday it had suspended the CEO and CFO of its Estonian business with immediate effect following an investigation into compliance with money-laundering rules at the bank.
Sweden’s oldest bank has gone through a turbulent period since being linked to money laundering at Danske Bank, which has said its Estonia branch was used to move 200 billion euros of suspicious funds between 2007 and 2015.
Swedbank – whose CEO and chairman both departed amid the turmoil – admitted in late April to failings in combating money laundering and announced an internal probe was under way to review its current and historic customer relationships through its Baltic units.
“Today’s decision is a consequence of the ongoing internal investigation,” Swedbank’s head of Baltic Banking, Charlotte Elsnitz, said in a statement.
“We are fully committed to the Estonian market and to all our employees, customers and other stakeholders. Estonia is one of four home markets of Swedbank.”
Swedbank said it was cooperating fully with authorities in Sweden, the United States and the Baltic countries in their investigations.
Swedbank said Olavi Lepp, currently chief risk officer, had been named acting CEO of Swedbank Estonia replacing Robert Kitt, while Anna Kouts, currently head of treasury, would become acting CFO replacing Vaiko Tammevali.
(Reporting by Johannes Hellstrom, editing by Deepa Babington)
