Swedbank chair steps down amid laundering scandal
A pattern is emerging in which Nordic banks appear to have become conduits for vast sums of dirty money moved from the former Soviet Union
Stockholm — A week after Swedbank fired its CEO, the lender is parting ways with its chair as a multi-billion-dollar money-laundering scandal forces top-level changes. Lars Idermark has decided to leave Sweden’s oldest bank and biggest mortgage lender with immediate effect, Swedbank said in a statement on Friday. This follows a March 28 announcement that CEO Birgitte Bonnesen had been fired in the wake of the dirty-money allegations. Idermark is the latest top-level name in Nordic finance to have his career tainted by a growing laundering scandal that has shocked investors and the general public. A pattern is emerging in which Nordic banks, mostly via their Baltic operations, appear to have become conduits for vast sums of dirty money from the former Soviet Union trying to get into the West. The banks involved may now be facing hefty fines. Swedbank is being investigated by the financial supervisory authorities of Sweden and Estonia, as well as authorities in the US. In addition, Sw...
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