The report adds to a raft of stories around AML regime failings across Europe.

Denmark’s financial watchdog has told the Danish arm of Handelsbanken to bolster its anti-money laundering regime and change how it evaluates risk, adding to a run of stories about Scandinavian lenders’ misadventures over dirty money.

According to Reuters, the Financial Supervisory Authority said: “The branch’s inherent risk of being misused for money laundering or terrorist financing is normal to high compared to the average of financial companies in Denmark.” 

This news service has contacted the Swedish-listed bank for comment but had not received a reply at the time of going to press. It wasn’t able to locate a statement from the regulator on its website, and may update in due course. The regulator is quoted as having said that it has been particularly concerned about the branch being misused for terrorist financing.

A bank spokesperson was quoted as saying that it took the findings seriously and will do as the regulator asks. 

The traditionally staid world of Scandinavian/Baltic region banking has been rocked by a series of scandals about illicit money flowing to the West via branches in countries such as Estonia. The Dutch bank ABN AMRO recently said that it is under investigation for suspected money laundering. The probe by Dutch authorities has been bubbling for several months as prosecutors across Europe ramp up the pressure on banks that are failing to monitor and report illegal transactions in their accounts.

Money laundering cases have involved Swiss, Dutch, German, and Danish banks. Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters was recently raided by German authorities in connection with Danish bank Danske's well-documented troubles at its Estonia branch. The branch is suspected of moving around €200 billion ($220.9 billion) in illicit funds from former Soviet states between 2007 and 2015.