Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Criminals may have used accounts in Nordea Bank and Danske Bank for laundering more than DKK7b in the period 2011-2014, newspaper Berlingske reports, citing documents covering about 1,700 transactions.

• Transactions were conducted via Danske’s Estonian unit and Nordea’s Danish division: Berlingske
• Both Danske, Nordea say in separate statements they have since improved measures to detect and to prevent money laundering, that they take money laundering seriously and that they have been cooperating with various legal authorities
• Danske says it published a statement on the issue in March 2016
• March 14, 2017: Denmark Says Banks Have Neglected Focus on Money Laundering
• March 21, 2016: Danske Bank Reported to Police for Anti-Money Laundering Failure

--With assistance from Niklas Magnusson. To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC, RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and Coutts are among 17 banks based in U.K. or with branches there who are facing questions over a money-laundering operation run by Russian criminals with links to that country’s govt and KGB, the Guardian reports, citing documents it saw.

• At least $20b appears to have been moved out of Russia during 2010-2014, though true figure could be $80b: Guardian
• Investigators are trying to identify some of the wealthy and politically influential Russians behind the operation and estimate that ~500 people were involved, including oligarches, Moscow bankers and figures working for or connected to the FSB, successor to the KGB