Svea Bank receives a remark and administrative fine

Svea Bank AB (Svea or the bank) has authorisation to conduct banking business in accordance with the Banking and Financing Business Act (2004:297). Svea offers, among other products, corporate loans, lines of credit, corporate invoicing and factoring, and personal loans and savings.

There have been deficiencies in the bank's general risk assessments. For example, there has been no assessment of how a number of products could be used for money laundering or terrorist financing. The general risk assessments have thus not been designed so that they could serve as a basis for the bank's procedures, guidelines and other measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

There were also deficiencies in Svea's risk assessments of its customers. For example, the bank has not considered relevant customer risk factors that were identified in the general risk assessments.

In terms of customer due diligence measures, Svea has not investigated in the required manner, for example, whether customers have beneficial owners. The bank has also not sufficiently gathered information about the purpose and nature of its business relationships. In terms of high-risk customers, in a high percentage of the cases that were reviewed, Svea has either not taken any enhanced customer due diligence measures at all or not taken sufficient customer due diligence measures. In some cases, the measures were taken too late.

The observed violations are such that there are grounds for Finansinspektionen to intervene against Svea. The violations are not so serious that there is cause to consider withdrawing the bank's authorisation or issuing the bank a warning. Finansinspektionen is therefore issuing Svea a remark that, in order to be an adequate intervention, will be accompanied by an administrative fine of SEK 170 million.