Danske Bank reels as new report claims it laundered $30bn from Russia in one year
The bank’s market value plunges by €1.6bn in an hour
Copenhagen — Shares in Denmark’s largest lender Danske Bank plunged on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on Tuesday, hit by fresh allegations of money laundering involving Russia through its Estonian subsidiary. The stock fall of more than 6% cut the bank’s market value by €1.6bn within an hour of trading after the Financial Times reported that up to $30bn from Russia had flowed through Danske’s Estonian subsidiary in 2013 alone. The $30bn is more than Estonia’s gross domestic product (GDP) that year at approximately $25bn. It was not clear how much of the amount was actually suspicious. The scandal lasted from 2007 to 2015, according to the Financial Times. "We are not able to verify the specific information mentioned in the media," Danske Bank said in a statement. The bank has been at the centre of a financial scandal since Danish daily Berlingske last year claimed that it had been involved in the laundering of about $3.9bn of dirty money from several eastern European countries. But a...
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