Danske Bank Fined $2 Million for Breaching Anti-Money Laundering Laws

Denmark's biggest lender, Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE.KO), has been fined 12.5 million Danish krone ($2 million) by the Danish Public Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime Thursday, after being charged with breaching Danish anti-money laundering laws.

The charge relates to monitoring transactions to and from correspondent banks after the Danish Financial Services Authority made an inspection at the bank in 2015.

The fine notice given to Danske Bank says it violated laws on "Measures to Prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism."

"We have a special responsibility with regard to the combating of money laundering, and regrettably, we have not lived up to that responsibility in terms of the monitoring of transactions to and from correspondent banks," said Danske Bank Chief Executive Thomas F. Borgen.

"That is the reason why we have been fined, and we have accepted and will pay the fine. We have since taken many initiatives to considerably strengthen monitoring in relation to correspondent banks, and today, the situation is quite different."

Mr. Borgen said the bank has strengthened efforts to combat financial crime in recent years, including investing in new IT systems to support monitoring, adding resources to anti-money laundering activities and more extensive staff training.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; Twitter: @domchopping @WSJNordics

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 21, 2017 05:42 ET (10:42 GMT)