Reported by Chris Newlands

(Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.thebanker.com/content/232f9b4b-aca5-4844-a68c-2a5ac06547a0)

Shares in Swedbank jumped to an all-time high when markets opened on Thursday after the US Department of Justice closed a money-laundering probe into the bank without enforcement.

The Swedish bank has been under investigation by various US authorities over its alleged failure to adequately prevent money laundering through its Baltic branches. The DoJ probe began in 2019.

Sweden’s financial regulator fined the bank SKr4bn ($425mn) in 2020 for serious AML control deficiencies related to the Baltics. At the time, the watchdog said the bank’s Swedish operations had “not lived up to the requirements” of anti-money laundering rules.

“We are placing another investigation of historical shortcomings behind us,” said Tomas Hedberg, Swedbank’s deputy chief executive officer, on Wednesday evening.