Today’s news / Cooperative bank fined 794 million for laundering
In late summer 2017, Copenhagen Cooperative Bank chose to move from Hellerup to the heart of Copenhagen as a symbolic break with the past. The cooperative bank's new headquarters was at Gammeltorv 4, 2nd floor. Financial Stability took over the financial institution in September 2018. That same year, the Financial Supervisory Authority had reported the cooperative bank to the police. (Archive photo). Photo: Mads Joakim Rimer Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Cooperative bank fined 794 million for laundering

A small financial institution, Københavns Andelskasse, has been fined 794 million kroner for severe violations of money laundering regulations. During a court session in Copenhagen City Court on Monday, it was revealed that the cooperative bank failed to investigate suspicious transactions as mandated by anti-money laundering laws. Finansiel Stabilitet, a state-owned company that took over the troubled bank in 2018, accepts the penalty. Two men involved are also charged, their identities protected by a publication ban. Despite numerous warnings from Arbejdernes Landsbank about the violations being ignored, and 3.1 billion kroner circulated through the bank without proper inquiries into major clients, the fine is ultimately not enforced due to specific legislation allowing penalty reductions to zero.