Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, EU – CIS, Financial Services, Markets and Companies

"We recently sold our Latvian and Lithuanian retail businesses to Swedbank. The retail banking unit of the Estonian branch is now up for sale too," Danske Bank spokesman Kenni Leth said according to the report carried by the financial news website Finanswatch.

An international group of investigative journalists earlier this week published their findings on how banks laundered 20.8 bln U.S. dollars of Russian money of allegedly illicit origin, of this nearly 1.6 bln dollars through Estonia. A document leaked to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) team lists tens of thousands of companies and reveals how Estonian accounts of little-known offshore companies were used to move sums that equal a sixth of country's state budget. The lion's share, 1.18 bln U.S. dollars, of the funds moved through Estonia were transferred via accounts at the Estonian branch of Danske bank.

Danske Bank at the beginning of 2015 informed the public of its decision to restructure its commercial activities in the Baltic states and to focus on servicing corporate and private banking clients. It said that starting from June 1 that year, Danske Bank will only enter into new credit agreements with companies and private banking clients.

The size of the credit portfolio of the Estonian branch of Danske Bank is 900 mln euros and deposits amount to 578 million euros. The bank has offices in four Estonian towns and cities - Tallinn, Tartu, Parnu and Johvi - and it operates more than 100 ATMs in Estonia.