Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services

The newspaper reported, citing the Swedish financial supervisory authority, that it had shared with the ECB a report commissioned by Swedbank on its Baltic operations. The Swedish FSA and the ECB declined to comment on the matter, according to Reuters.

The ECB wants to know how well Swedbank's Estonian subsidiary kept itself informed about its customers, Dagens Nyheter said, citing the source.

Sweden is not part of the eurozone but Estonia is and that means Swedbank's Estonian subsidiary falls under ECB supervision.

Looking into suspected money laundering is not strictly the ECB's area of activity as such investigations should be conducted by other authorities. The ECB can, however, inspect whether or not banks have implemented existing mandatory measures.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported in February that Swedbank customers had been able to funnel at least 40 bn kronor or 3.8 bn euros between Swedbank and Danske Bank in Estonia.

The chairman of the supervisory board of Swedbank, Lars Idermark, resigned last week, and on March 28, Swedbank's supervisory board dismissed Birgitte Bonnesen as president and CEO.