Dutch bank ABN Amro probed under terror financing rules
Prosecutors in the Netherlands have opened a investigation into Dutch bank ABN Amro over potential money laundering or financing of terrorism.
The bank said it was informed of the decision yesterday. “ABN Amro will cooperate fully with the investigation,” it said.
Read more: Former head of Danske Bank in Estonia found dead
Prosecutors told Reuters that the bank is suspected of reporting suspicious transactions too late, or not at all. They are also looking into whether the bank properly investigated its clients and held on to suspicious customers for too long.
The possible offences are said to have taken place over a long period of time.
The probe is being held under the Dutch money laundering and financing of terrorism act.
Shares in the bank dropped around nine per cent to €16.50 this morning.
It comes as European banks are under increased scrutiny after a series of money-laundering scandals have rocked the continent.
Only yesterday German authorities raided the offices of Deutsche Bank in a bid to investigate its role in a €200bn (£177bn) money-laundering probe into Danske Bank.
Payments totalling that amount are said to have passed through suspicious accounts at Danske’s Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.
Yesterday the boss who ran Danske in Estonia between 2006 and 2015 was found dead near his home near Tallinn. Police say they are not opening an investigation into his death as there was no signs of violence on the corpse of no indication of an accident.
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Danske is not the only Scandinavian bank caught up in a money-laundering probe. Earlier this year Sweden’s Swedbank was propelled into headlines and its chief executive stepped down after similar claims in the Baltic countries.
There is no indication that these cases are linked to ABN Amro.
Main image credit: Getty