Sweden’s Financial Regulator Investigates Handelsbanken Over Money Laundering Controls

Key Takeaways

• AML Investigation: Sweden’s financial regulator has opened an investigation into Handelsbanken to determine whether the bank complied with money laundering regulations.
• Focus on Risk and Due Diligence: The review will examine the bank’s overall money laundering risk assessment and its customer due diligence measures.
• Corporate Clients Under Scrutiny: Authorities say criminal networks often use companies as platforms for illicit schemes, making corporate customers a key focus of the probe.
• Supervisory Priority: Preventing money laundering and terrorist financing remains a central supervisory priority for Sweden’s regulator in 2026.

Deep Dive

Sweden’s financial regulator has launched an investigation into Svenska Handelsbanken to determine whether the bank has met its obligations under anti-money laundering rules.

The inquiry will examine whether Handelsbanken’s internal controls meet regulatory requirements, focusing specifically on the bank’s general risk assessment and the way it conducts customer due diligence.

Authorities say banks play a critical role in preventing criminal proceeds from entering the financial system, a responsibility that remains high on the supervisory agenda this year.

“The financial system should not be used to launder the proceeds of crime, and this is a priority issue in our supervision,” said Petra Bonderud, Head of Risk Analysis for Money Laundering Supervision at Finansinspektionen.

“In order for banks to be able to counteract such risks, they must have good knowledge of their customers and their transactions,” she added.

Corporate Structures and Criminal Networks

The investigation will place particular emphasis on the bank’s corporate clients.

According to intelligence compiled by Sweden’s Financial Police and the Economic Crime Authority, many criminal networks with significant operational capacity rely on companies as platforms for their activities. Corporate structures can allow illicit funds to be routed through legitimate financial channels or disguised within routine business transactions.

As a result, regulators increasingly view corporate customer due diligence as a critical safeguard within anti-money laundering frameworks, and the investigation will assess Handelsbanken’s compliance with money laundering regulations over a one-year period spanning March 11, 2025 to March 11, 2026.

During that review, regulators will evaluate whether the bank’s risk assessments appropriately identify money laundering risks and whether its customer due diligence procedures meet the standards required under Swedish law.

The opening of the investigation does not indicate that violations have occurred. Instead, it marks the start of a supervisory review aimed at determining whether the bank’s controls are sufficient to prevent its services from being used in connection with financial crime.

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