Copenhagen City Court delivers its verdict on Monday on whether Nordea broke Denmark’s anti-money-laundering law, with prosecutors demanding a fine of 6.596 billion kroner, close to 880 million euros.
According to TV 2, the ruling lands today in a criminal case covering transactions and business worth more than 26 billion kroner. Two legal judges and three lay judges decide the outcome. Nordea denies the charges and is asking to be acquitted.
One of the five counts goes back to TV 2’s own reporting. In the 2018 program Operation X, a bank courier described delivering fresh notes from Nordea to a Copenhagen currency exchange. He said another man was already in the back room with a sports bag holding what he estimated at two million kroner.
Five counts covering 2012 to 2015
The National Unit for Special Crime charged Nordea in July 2024 over conduct from 2012 to 2015, TV 2 reports. The counts cover missing checks on 25 so-called eastern customers with transactions above 24 billion kroner, and 11 companies in a Russian group with transactions of 718 million kroner. The remaining counts concern currency exchanges, ignored monitoring alerts and failures with correspondent banks.
Per TV 2, currency exchange offices were supplied with more than one billion kroner in 500 and 200 euro notes without closer checks. Authorities had warned that this currency was often linked to crime. The 25 eastern customers sent close to 25 billion kroner through Nordea’s international department at Vesterport in more than 17,000 transactions, as previously described by Berlingske and DR.
Nordea’s chief legal officer, Anders Holkmann, has argued during the trial that there is a difference between being able to do something better and doing something criminal, according to Ritzau as cited by TV 2. The bank says the rules at the time were unclear. Special prosecutor Karen Moestrup Jensen has said the bank probably kept the risky customers because it was relatively lucrative.
Why the verdict comes now
The case began with a 2015 inspection by Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, which led to a police report the following year. Berlingske has reported, based on confidential supervisory material, that the authority found it obvious that Nordea Danmark could have been misused for money laundering or terrorist financing over a number of years. The verdict follows more than 60 court sessions and thousands of documents.
Euroinvestor describes the trial as the first criminal case in Denmark against a bank for anti-money-laundering violations, after earlier Danish bank cases ended in settlements. TV 2 notes the demanded fine could become the largest ever imposed on a bank by Danish authorities.
What the case means for foreign residents with Danish bank accounts
The law at the center of the case is hvidvaskloven, Denmark’s anti-money-laundering act. Prosecutors allege Nordea failed to monitor customer relationships, investigate transactions and report suspicious ones to the authorities. Those same duties are why banks in Denmark ask customers for identification, documentation of income and explanations of larger transfers.
For people who moved here on a foreign passport, these checks often feel heavier, because documents and money frequently come from abroad. If you are comparing providers, our guide to banks for foreigners explains the paperwork involved. What the court decides today concerns Nordea’s conduct in 2012 to 2015 only, and TV 2 reports no changes to current customer rules as part of the case.
