Sweden Turns Regulatory Screws On SEB

Tom Burroughes

20 December 2019

The Swedish financial regulator is ramping up its investigations into in the UK, warned: "The Swedish financial supervisory authority has the power to bring criminal charges when an investigation uncovers evidence suggesting criminal activity. However, implied substantive data should not always be taken as gospel."

In its statement, the regulator said: “FI plans to communicate the outcome of the sanction trial that applies to SEB in April 2020. In a corresponding survey by Swedbank, FI plans to announce the outcome of the sanction trial in March 2020. The decision to initiate a sanction trial is a step in FI's investigation process.”

SEB did not comment on the specifics of the regulator’s remarks. In a statement, it said: “As part of its ongoing supervisory review, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has informed that it is initiating a sanction evaluation process regarding SEB AB’s internal control and governance of its subsidiary banks in the Baltics. The bank has not received the Financial Supervisory Authority’s preliminary assessment that has led to the evaluation. SEB works in full transparency with the Financial Supervisory Authority.”