One of the largest banks in Sweden to be fined for payments to the Crimea
Wednesday, Swedbank AB reported that he had notified the Office of foreign assets control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department about possible violations of sanctions with respect to transactions in the amount of $ 4.8 million after an internal investigation. An independent report on the violation of sanctions will help Swedbank reduce the amount of the fine from OFAC, reports The Wall Street Journal the words of the Vice President for economic crimes and compliance LexisNexis Daniel Wager.
Law firm Clifford Chance conducts an audit at Swedbank February 2019. The study includes information about customers, transactions and activities from 2007 to 2019 and how the Bank processed internal and external disclosure. Lawyers also learn how Swedbank has historically responded to identified deficiencies in combating money laundering and sanctions.
Clifford Chance checked all transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars, from the three Baltic branches of the Stockholm creditor in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were processed through the US financial system in the period from 22 March 2014 to 22 March 2019.
In the investigation of Swedbank said Wednesday that Clifford Chance found 586 transactions that represent potential violations of the sanctions.
the Bank noted that 508 of these transactions represent the payment of wages and fees associated with the operation of the vessel, the owner and operator of which is in the Crimea and uses Swedbank in the Baltic States. Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, is subject to broad economic sanctions of the United States.
In 2019 Swedbank was accused of money laundering through the OU in Estonia. Swedish channel SVT reported that from 2007 to 2015 through units have been at least $4 billion, primarily from sources in Russia. After the scandal, the Bank changed the Director General, began the process of internal audit and stated about the involvement of external companies to analyze transactions.