Banks, Corruption, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services

"The developments during the past days have created an enormous pressure for the bank. Therefore, the board has decided to dismiss Birgitte Bonnesen from her position," Lars Idermark, chairman of the board of directors, said.

"With that said, Birgitte Bonnesen has during her three years as CEO made an important contribution by creating a leading digital bank with physical presence," Idermark added.

Anders Karlsson will until further notice continue in his role as CFO.

Swedish authorities were raiding the headquarters of one of Sweden's largest banks on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether Swedbank was connected to a massive money laundering scandal in the Baltic countries.

Sweden's Economic Crime Authority said chief prosecutor Thomas Langrot is probing whether 15 of Swedbank's largest shareholders illegally received information about the bank's connection to the money laundering scandal before Swedish television reported on the issue for the first time last month.

Broadcaster SVT had reported that Swedbank customers had been able to funnel at least 40 billion kronor or 3.8 billion euros between Swedbank and Danske Bank in Estonia.

Uppdrag Grasning, a program in investigative journalism of Sweden's SVT public television, reported earlier on Wednesday that Swedbank has misled US authorities in connection with the investigation into the so-called Panama Papers.

It was said on the program that Swedbank told the financial supervision authority in New York that the bank has no reasons to suspect money laundering, even though the bank did business in the Baltic countries with over a hundred companies connected with the Panamanian law office Mossack Fonseca. 

It appears from about 11.5 mln documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca that politicians, businesspeople, criminals and celebrities from all over the world have used countries ranked as tax havens to hide their wealth. 

According to SVT, US President Donald Trump's convicted former campaign master Paul Manafort received a million Swedish kronor or 96,000 euros via Swedbank. The money came from a company by the name of Vega Holding close to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich.