Finance
Nordea Risks $1 Billion Money Laundering Fine, Experts Say
- Lender has set aside €95 million to cover the penalty
- First money-laundering court case against a bank in Denmark
A Nordea Bank office in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Photographer: Carsten Snejbjerg/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Nordea Bank could face an estimated maximum fine of almost $1 billion over alleged failures to stop money laundering if it loses its case with Denmark, according to some legal experts, an amount that would far exceed the lender’s own expectations.
The case has no precedent but a Danish court might hit the Helsinki, Finland-based bank with a penalty of as much as 6.5 billion Danish kroner ($943 million), said Hans Fogtdal, a lawyer and former deputy public prosecutor at the country’s National Special Crime Unit, or NSK, which is pursuing the case against Nordea.