Not all money laundering scandals are equal. When the world learned that billions in dirty funds had flowed through Danske Bank A/S and Swedbank AB, it proved disastrous for the two lenders. But when SEB AB was accused of similar offenses, people were more forgiving.
The difference can be traced back to a single point in time. SEB’s chief executive officer, Johan Torgeby, says his bank made a clear choice back in 2006. That’s when SEB started to tackle the kind of non-resident flows that have been at the epicenter of every Nordic-Baltic laundering scandal. Torgeby says SEB’s choices are largely thanks to a dead central banker from Russia.
