A number of banks in Western and Baltics are exiting operations in poorer markets due to concerns over exposure to money-laundering activity. Following the revelation of money laundering at Danske Bank's Estonian branch, for example, Scandinavian banks have been scaling back their footprints across the Northern Europe and Russia. Additionally, at a recent European parliament hearing, Deutsche Bank's head of anti-financial crime said the institution had reduced corresponding banking relationships by 40% since 2016 while exiting some markets, like Moldova, completely.
A number of banks in Western and Northern Europe are exiting operations in poorer markets due to concerns over exposure to money-laundering activity. Following the revelation of money laundering at Danske Bank's Estonian branch, for example, Scandinavian banks have been scaling back their footprints across the Baltics and Russia. Additionally, at a recent European parliament hearing, Deutsche Bank's head of anti-financial crime said the institution had reduced corresponding banking relationships by 40% since 2016 while exiting some markets, like Moldova, completely.