One of the most senior C-suite figures at the Scandinavian bank has left the lender.

Nordea, the Scandinavian bank hit like some peers by money laundering lapses, announced yesterday that its group chief financial officer and group finance and treasury head Cristopher Rees is leaving. 

Rees has “decided to relocate back to the UK with his family to pursue new opportunities and will leave Nordea in 2020”, the firm said, adding that it has started to find a successor. Rees will continue in his role and as a member of the bank's group executive management until a successor has been appointed and his responsibilities transferred.

The executive joined Nordea in 2015 in wholesale banking where his roles included chief operating officer, head of markets and deputy head of wholesale banking. He was appointed to his most recent post in 2018.

A report by the Wall Street Journal (19 September 2019) said that Rees’ move “comes amid a wider shake-up of the bank’s management under new chief executive Frank Vang-Jensen”. The Nordea statement about Rees did not mention that topic, however.

Vang-Jensen’s appointment was announced earlier this month. Last week, Nordea announced that Torsten Hagen Jørgensen, the bank’s deputy CEO and group chief operating officer, and Karen Tobiasen, head of its human resources department, were leaving the bank. Authorities have been examining Nordea’s anti-money-laundering controls, as has been the case with rivals such as Swedbank and Danske Bank.