Regional focus
A golden opportunity
Banks in the Baltic States have had a diffi cult few years, following several serious money laundering scandals. Yet recent challenges also offer Baltic banks a golden opportunity. Apart from prompting the tightening up of EU regulations, they have seen a signifi cant investment in new technology, with welcome consequences for customers. Abi Millar talks to Ilja Nogicevs, head of digital banking Latvia at SEB Banka, and Mindaugas Mikalajunas, CEO of smeFinance, about how the region’s dynamic banking sector might yet make a positive mark on the continent at large.
T
wo years ago, the Baltic banking system was in the grips of a money-laundering crisis. Once ruled by the Soviet Union, the three Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – had long been susceptible to international criminals intent on scrubbing dirty money. And between 2018 and 2020, a wave of interrelated scandals came to light in quick succession.
By far the worst offender was Danske Bank. Starting in 2007, the Danish lender had been used as
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
a conduit for tainted Russian funds with over €200bn of suspicious transactions funnelling through its Estonian subsidiary.
Around the same time, it emerged that Swedish lender Swedbank – the biggest bank in Estonia – had its own issues with money laundering. Erik Thedeen, director general of Sweden’s financial watchdog FSA, announced that “Swedbank has had serious, systematic shortcomings in its work to prevent money laundering in the Baltics”.
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