SEB to pay $33 million over anti-money laundering failures in Baltic operations

Swedish banking group SEB has agreed to pay $33 million to New York’s financial regulator, bringing to a close a long-running US investigation into weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls, including those at its Baltic subsidiaries.

The settlement, announced on 15 October, follows an investigation by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) into the bank’s customer due diligence and transaction monitoring procedures. The review covered historical practices at SEB’s operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during 2015–2019.

According to DFS, the Baltic subsidiaries’ transaction monitoring systems suffered from backlogs that prevented timely reviews of potentially suspicious activity. The regulator also identified shortcomings in the bank’s assessment of high-risk customers and correspondent banking relationships.

The investigation originated in regulatory scrutiny following the 2016 Panama Papers disclosures, which exposed extensive offshore financial arrangements and raised questions about banks’ compliance controls.

SEB said the US Department of Justice had separately concluded its review without taking action. The $33 million settlement will be recorded as an operating expense in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the bank expecting a limited financial impact.

The agreement closes the remaining US regulatory proceedings concerning SEB’s historical anti-money laundering practices. The bank said it had strengthened its compliance systems and financial crime prevention procedures in the intervening years.

Sources: New York State Department of Financial Services
https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr20261015

SEB
https://sebgroup.com/press/press-releases/2026/seb-reaches-a-resolution-with-dfs-concluding-us-authorities-reviews-of-the-banks-historical-processes