Danske Bank Under Investigation in France While Estonia Arrests 10 Former Employees and European Community Agrees to Increase its Financial Supervision Powers

On December 19, 2019, the Estonian state prosecutor announced the arrest of ten former employees of the local branch of Danske Bank as part of an ongoing international investigation into money laundering.   On January 11, 2018, Danske Bank announced it has received a letter from a French court requesting an interview concerning “matters relating to the ongoing investigation into organized money laundering of tax evasion proceeds.”  Partly in response to the Danske Bank crisis, on January 14, 2019, the European Central Bank reached a cooperation agreement to work with the European Commission and European supervisory authorities to combat money laundering.