Denmark charges Nordea over 2012-15 money laundering cases

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Nordea, the Nordic region's biggest bank, has been charged with violating Denmark's anti-money laundering act several times between 2012 and 2015, Danish police said on Friday.

The Special Crime Unit (NSK) said they believe Nordea breached the law by not investigating transactions by Russian customers sufficiently, and by disregarding warnings about transactions involving currency exchange offices in Copenhagen.

The NSK said in a statement it has not found grounds to bring charges against individual persons in the case, which relates to transactions worth more than 26 billion crowns ($3.77 billion).

The investigation into Nordea's anti-money laundering controls started in 2016, and the lender has also made provisions for expected fines.

"Nordea does not agree with the content of the charges nor the legal assessment," the Finland-based bank said in a statement, adding that it stands by its "adequate current provisioning for weak anti-money laundering processes and procedures".

The police unit said Nordea has breached its obligations on several occasions. "As a result, a good 26 billion crowns have flowed into the bank despite the fact that there could be suspicions the money was linked to money laundering."

($1 = 6.8925 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Essi Lehto and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)