Danske Bank

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  Danske Bank A / S
logo
Holmens Kanal 14 København.jpg
Headquarters of the bank on the Holmens Canal in Copenhagen
Country DenmarkDenmark Denmark
Seat Copenhagen
legal form Aktieselskab
ISIN DK0010274414
BIC DABADKKKXXX
founding October 5, 1871
Website www.danskebank.dk
Business data 2013
Total assets 3,227.1 billion DKK
Employee 19,122
Offices 354 (including 159 in Denmark)
management
Board Jesper Nielsen (CEO)
Supervisory board Ole Andersen (Chairman)

Danske Bank A / S is the largest Danish bank with headquarters in Copenhagen on the Holmens Canal. The bank is listed in the OMX Copenhagen 20 stock index on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. The group consists of Danske Bank, Realkredit Danmark and Danica Pension and offers banking services in several Scandinavian countries under the name Fokus Bank . Other subsidiaries are Northern Ireland's Northern Bank and the Irish National Irish Bank, as well as subsidiaries within Denmark for real estate, capital and leasing transactions.

Company history

On October 5, 1871, Danske Bank was founded under the name Den Danske Landmandsbank with a share capital of 2.4 million Reichstalers (equivalent to 4.8 million Danish kroner ). The founding director was Isak Glückstadt, who together with his son Emil Glückstadt built the largest bank in Scandinavia by 1921. In 1919 the bank ran into liquidity problems, so the state had to guarantee the bank from 1923 to 1928.

In 1976 the name of the bank was changed to Den Danske Bank . A merger with the Handelsbanken and the Provinsbanken took place in 1990. In the following year, the bank founded its own life insurance subsidiary . The final takeover of the majority in the Baltica insurance group took place in 1993, after having acquired 32% of the shares in the insurer, which was in financial difficulties at the time, the year before. In 1995 the property insurance business of Baltica was sold to the insurer Tryg , the insurance business of the banking group was operated from then on under the name Danica .

The takeover of the Swedish Östgöta Enskilda Bank followed in 1997 . In 1999 Den Danske Bank sold Danica's property insurance business, and from then on only life , health and pension insurance contracts were sold under the name Danica Pension .

In 2000 the name of the bank was changed to Danske Bank . The following year the bank merged with RealDanmark , which was formed from BG Bank and Realkredit Danmark . In 2005 the Northern Irish Bank and the Irish National Irish Bank and in 2006 the Finnish Sampo Pankki were bought.

The bank is the sponsor and namesake of the Vilnius Marathon .

Directors

Danske Bank headquarters, view from Kongens Nytorv
  • 1871–1910 Isak Glückstadt (1839–1910)
  • 1910–1922 Emil Glückstadt (1875–1923)
  • 1922–1928 Emil Hertz
  • 1922–1954 Oluf Nielsen
  • 1928–1964 Poul Ingholt (1894–1965)
  • 1964–1980 SO Sørensen
  • 1980–1990 Days Andersen (1927–2006)
  • 1990-1998 Knud Sørensen
  • 1998–2012 Peter Straarup (* 1951)
  • 2012–2013 Eivind Kolding (* 1959)
  • 2013–2018 Thomas F. Borgen (* 1964)
  • 2018– 0000Jesper Nielsen

Branch in Lithuania

The branch in Lithuania is Danske Bank A / S Lietuvos filialas . In 2010 the company achieved sales of 472.044 million litas (136.7 million euros). SEB bankas employs 590 people (2013). Its predecessor was UAB Lietuvos vystymo bankas ( Development Bank of Lithuania ) founded in December 1994 , which was acquired as a licensed commercial bank in September 2000 and by the Finnish Sampo in December 2000 . From 2001 it was called SAMPO bankas. In 2004 the Uždaroji akcinė bendrovė (UAB) became Akcinė bendrovė (AB). In 2006 Danske Bank A / S bought the group from SAMPO Bank. Since June 2008 it is a Lithuanian branch of "Danske Bank". General director Gintautas Galvanauskas and CEO Eivind Kolding .

Investigations into suspected money laundering

According to revelations by the Danish daily Berlingske , between 2007 and 2015, Danske Bank laundered billions of euros through its branch in Estonia from Russia and former Soviet republics. A whistleblower is said to have informed the group management about the money laundering as early as 2013 , but they did nothing. But warnings also came from regulators and government officials. One of the most memorable warnings about money laundering activities of the Estonian branch came not from Western partners, but from the Russian Central Bank . As early as 2007, this warned Danske Bank of possible “criminal activities in their pure form, including money laundering”. The Russian central bank estimated that the Estonian branch may have laundered "billions of rubles a month".

In 2013 alone, the equivalent of 30 billion dollars (25.8 billion euros) from dubious Russian sources are said to have been transferred via its subsidiary in Estonia. Between 2007 and 2015, the bank is said to have laundered 150 billion dollars (128 billion euros) from Russia. Family members of Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of the FSB intelligence service are said to have been among the suspicious customers . According to Berlingske's revelations , Russian officials and criminals are said to have also used the DB branch to smuggle stolen tax revenue out of the country. In addition, a New Zealand company is said to have laundered funds from an illegal arms deal between North Korea and Iran . The Estonia business of Danske Bank brought in disproportionate profits. The bank's return on its non-resident portfolio in Estonia reached 402 percent in 2013 alone, according to the regulator. This contrasts with a return of 6.9 percent for the entire bank.

Danske Bank had to pay a fine and was criticized by the Danish supervisory authority in May 2018 for reacting too late and inadequately to the suspected money laundering. Denmark's Minister of Economic Affairs, Rasmus Jarlov, spoke of an "eyesore for the Danish banking sector" and announced that the financial regulator would investigate the latest revelations from June 2018. Investigations have also been launched against the bank in Estonia.

In July 2017, Bill Browder , co-founder and CEO of the fund company Hermitage Capital Management , filed a criminal complaint with the Danish authorities asking them to initiate an investigation at Danske Bank A / S into their alleged role in the money laundering scandal known as Troika Laundromat . Browder reported both the 26 Estonian ex-Danske Bank employees and the bank itself because he sees himself as the injured party. The Danish special public prosecutor's office for white-collar crime is now investigating the case.

On September 19, 2018, the CEO of Danske Bank, Thomas Borgen, resigned in the wake of the money laundering scandal. The bank had not met its responsibility in the case, he said. The National Bank of Denmark warned in 2018 that the scandal could jeopardize the financial stability of the entire country and advised companies to increase their reserves.

On February 20, the Handelsblatt reported that the European Union (EU) would now also examine the responsibility of the responsible national supervisory authorities in the money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank. The EU banking supervisory authority (EBA) opened a formal investigation procedure on February 19, 2019. The EBA is checking whether the Estonian and / or Danish financial inspection has violated EU law with regard to its dealings with Danske Bank.

The then manager of Danske Bank in Estonia, Aivar Rehe, was found dead in September 2019. He would have been an important witness to the money laundering scandal.

Withheld report by the banking regulator

Contrary to the notification of the EBA, according to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, it found a total of four legal violations in its investigation report. The supervisory authorities in Denmark and Estonia did not react strongly enough to warning signals between 2007 and 2014. This and the German banking regulator Bafin had voted against the publication of the report. The MEP Sven Giegold (Greens) criticized, according to the SZ that all but one supervisory authority rejected the recommendations drawn up by the Eba. Giegold announced "an aftermath in the Bundestag ".

Ownership structure

The US investment company BlackRock , the world's largest independent asset manager, holds 5.10 percent of the shares in Danske Bank, while AP Moller Holding Group (the largest container shipping company in the world), whose chairman has been Robert Maersk Uggla since September 2016 , holds 20 percent . All other shareholders are below five percent. 44 percent of the shareholders come from Denmark, 20 percent from the USA , 16 percent from the EU , 15 percent from Great Britain and five percent from other regions of the world.

literature

  • Jul Schovelin: Den Danske Landmandsbank, Hypotek- og Vekselbank 1871–1921 , Copenhagen 1921.
  • Søren Mørch : Det store bankkrak. Landmandsbankens sammenbrud 1922-23 , ISBN 87-01-32822-0 , Gyldendal 1986.
  • Søren Mørch, Per H. Hansen: Den Danske Bank , Centrum 1997.

Web links

Commons : Danske Bank  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the BIC directory at SWIFT
  2. ↑ Annual Report 2013 (English; PDF; 11 MB) and Factbook (English)
  3. ↑ DanskeBank.lt
  4. ↑ Darbuotojų skaičius
  5. ↑ The depths of one of Europe's largest money laundering scandals have been exposed . In: ThinkProgress, September 20, 2018
  6. ↑ a b Danske Bank money laundering for the Russians . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ Russia-Linked Money-Laundering Probe Looks at $ 150 Billion in Transactions . In: The Wall Street Journal , September 7, 2018.
  8. ↑ a b Danske Bank is deep in the money laundering swamp . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , July 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ Danske Bank Money laundering profits targeted by the Danish government . In: Welt Online , July 5, 2018.
  10. ^ Browder filed a criminal complaint against Danske Bank . In: Bloomberg, July 13, 2018
  11. ^ Money laundering for the Russians . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, September 6, 2018
  12. ^ Rudolf Hermann: Unpleasant questions for the Danske Bank. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. September 4, 2018, accessed October 2, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Largest Danish money house: Head of Danske Bank resigns after money laundering scandal . In: Spiegel Online , September 19, 2018.
  14. ↑ Money laundering scandal at Danske: The alarm bells are ringing at the central bank. In: amp.n-tv.de. November 30, 2018, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Yasmin Osman: EU scrutinizes supervisory authorities in the Danske scandal. Handelsblatt online, February 20, 2019 (accessed February 20, 2019)
  16. ↑ Danske Bank in the money laundering scandal: Ex-boss Aivar Rehe found dead in Estonia. In: spiegel.de . September 25, 2019, accessed September 25, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Mark Zydra: Money laundering paradise Europe. Süddeutsche Zeitung (Economy Department), April 29, 2019
  18. ↑ https://danskebank.com/investor-relations/shares/largest-shareholders

Coordinates: 55 ° 40 ′ 40.4 "  N , 12 ° 35 ′ 7.4"  E