Teller Report

Swedbank's CEO on the billion penalty: Not the customers who will pay

3/19/2020, 8:55:23 PM

In February last year, Assignment Review revealed that Swedbank may have been used for systematic money laundering for almost ten years. Today, Finansinspektionen announced that the bank will receive a warning together with a penalty fee of SEK 4 billion. - We haven't had enough good control and control. Swedbank has failed, says Swedbank's CEO Jens Henriksson.


"Swedbank AB has had serious shortcomings in the work to counter money laundering risks in its Baltic operations," Finansinspektionen writes in its reasoning for the decision.

The sanction amount of SEK 4 billion received by Swedbank is a historically large sum. But it's not customers who will have to pay, says Jens Henriksson.

- In the end, it is the owners who have to pay, because the bank's value decreases, says Jens Henriksson.

In March 2019, one month after the disclosure, Swedbank's then CEO Birgitte Bonnesen was forced out of his post. Jens Henriksson took over as CEO in August in the same year.

See the interview with Swedbank's CEO Jens Henriksson in the video player above.