Danske wields risk axe after Estonia money laundering scandal

In an era when compliance heads have unprecedented importance in banking, there is perhaps no other major financial institution in the world where the role is quite as crucial as it is at Danske Bank. Philippe Vollot became the Danish lender’s new chief compliance officer in November last year, just weeks after former chief executive Thomas Borgen resigned, amid a €200 billion money-laundering scandal.

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In a sense, Vollot has jumped from the frying pan to the fire. Originally a French lawyer, he previously ran financial crime compliance at Deutsche Bank, when the German lender faced hundreds of millions of dollars of fines for anti-money laundering failures.

The money-laundering scandal has hit Danske’s reputation hard. In Denmark, it has haemorrhaged customers, and it is now being forced to reassess business it has done for years as an international Scandinavian corporate banking champion.