The Estonian financial supervisory authority, Finantsinspektsioon, together with the Financial Markets and Capital Commission (Latvia) and Lietuvos bankas (Lithuania) carried out an on-site inspection of Luminor AS in all three countries simultaneously.

The inspections found that Luminor had to determine in its procedures relating to its IT facilities, as well as its structural units in charge of the fight against money laundering and the financing of the fight against terrorism, reports the SNB.

The quality of the bank’s data must also be improved, as must its transaction monitoring system, according to the authorities.

Luminor must also ensure timely and high-quality customer due diligence and sufficient resources to do so, financial inspectors found.

Luminor responded by saying that he is fully committed to the prevention and detection of money laundering and financial crime.

The bank said: “We take note of the findings of the routine on-site inspection. Supervisors have highlighted areas for improvement within our internal processes and solutions, many of which we have already implemented and are committed to carrying out the remaining actions according to plans. we submitted to the supervisors.

“We have a low risk appetite and our business model aims to serve primarily residents of the Baltic States and clients who have strong personal or business ties with the Baltic States,” the bank added in its statement.

“We are constantly reviewing and improving our AML practices and are grateful to supervisors for carrying out such a thorough inspection as these audits provide a valuable contribution to the bank to further improve its AML processes,” continued Lumior.

The news follows high-profile cases in recent years involving Estonia’s two largest banks, SEB and Swedbank, owned by the Swedes.

A report by Swedish public broadcaster SVT in early 2019 linked Swedbank in Estonia to the Danske money laundering case, where around € 230 billion in potentially illicit funds passed through the portals of former Danske Estonia. , 2007-2015.

Last summer, SEB was fined EUR 1 million linked to AML in Estonia, while the bank’s parent company in Sweden was fined just under EUR 100 million for the same reason.

Luminor AS has the right to appeal the decision of the Estonian body to the Tallinn Administrative Court within 30 days of notification, BNS reports.

Founded in 2017, Luminor is partially owned by Nordea and DNB, whose operations it replaced and each of which holds 20%, while the US investment firm Blackstone Group owns the remaining 60%.

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