STOCKHOLM—Swedbank dismissed Birgitte Bonnesen as chief executive on March 28 only an hour before its annual meeting after disgruntled shareholders rounded on her handling of a rapidly-growing money laundering scandal.
The lender had repeatedly said it had faith in Bonnesen to calm concerns over allegations that Swedbank’s Baltic accounts were used to launder money, but Swedish economic crime authority’s decision on March 27 to broaden its probe to cover suspected fraud proved to be the final straw for its board.
