Finansinspektionen (FI), Sweden's financial supervisory authority, has pushed back its self-imposed deadline for the publication of its report into money laundering risks in the Baltic states by several months. The regulator says it now plans to communicate its findings no later than the beginning of next year, which is later than FI previously indicated. The main reason, the FI said, is the considerable amount of material in the investigations.
On 23 August 2019 FI said that in July it had sent notification letters to SEB and Swedbank as part of the investigations into the banks’ management and control of money laundering risks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The letters are part of FI's investigation process. They contain FI's observations and in some cases also preliminary assessments. The banks are now able to check that FI has understood the facts correctly. SEB and Swedbank must respond to the notification letters no later than 2 September and 16 September, respectively.
The investigation into the banks' management and control of money laundering risks in the Baltics are being conducted in cooperation with the supervisory authorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The supervisory authorities are coordinating activities together and sharing information and assessments.
FI's investigations aim to assess the Swedish banks' management and control of money laundering risks in their Baltic operations from 2007 onward. The Baltic authorities are simultaneously conducting investigations or other supervision activities to assess each subsidiary's compliance with local regulations.
