Nordea comments on historical operations in the Baltics

Media outlets are reporting on historical matters in Luminor Bank, which Nordea co-owned with DNB and later sold. Nordea does not accept being used as a platform for financial crime – not now and not then. Reviews performed when Nordea left the Baltic market found no evidence of systemic weaknesses in the anti-money laundering processes. 

A network of investigative journalists has published articles related to historical matters in Luminor Bank in the Baltics.   

“We do everything we can to fight financial crime and prevent criminals from using Nordea for money laundering. This was also the case for our previous operations in the Baltic market,” says Anu Torkkeli, Country AML responsible at Nordea Finland.  

Luminor was created in 2017 when Nordea and DNB combined their operations in the Baltic countries. Nordea has since sold its majority holding in Luminor. During the creation of Luminor and as part of the later sale of shares, external reviews of Nordea’s Baltic operations did not identify systemic deficiencies in the business.  

The historical customer base in the Baltics consisted of local customers with only a very small proportion of non-resident customers.   

However, Nordea recognises that the matters reported on in the media today belong to a period when banks and societies at large underestimated the complexity of combating financial crime.  

“Across the banking sector and especially within Nordea we have since then made significant investments in this field – and we are committed to continuing our efforts. We do not accept being used as a platform for money laundering – not now and not then,” emphasises Anu Torkkeli.  

Nordea cannot comment on behalf of Luminor as Luminor is not part of the Nordea Group. Due to the special duty of confidentiality, a bank cannot comment on any customer relationship or employee.  

Committed to combating financial crime  

During the last years Nordea has significantly strengthened its financial crime prevention capabilities, including transaction monitoring and more sophisticated assessment techniques. The bank monitors more than 3.2 billion transactions annually on a Nordic basis and reports to the authorities when it encounters something suspicious.  

Nordea has invested approximately 1.5bn euro in risk, compliance and resilience since 2015, and today more than 2000 employees work solely on combating money laundering and other types of financial crime.  

“However, Nordea cannot fight this battle alone. This is a broader societal issue and we encourage the exchange of information and even closer collaboration between banks and authorities to identify and prevent financial crime. We must together ensure that the risk of criminal activities is minimised across the financial system,” highlights Anu Torkkeli. 

For further information: 

Group Communication, +358 10 416 8023 or press [at] nordea.com