The EU has a dirty money problem. Revelations this week that Danske Bank — Denmark’s biggest lender — handled up to $30bn of mainly Russian and ex-Soviet cash through a branch in Estonia in just one year — is the worst in a series of recent scandals about illicit flows of foreign cash.
It’s an issue that brings together some of European governments’ biggest neuroses: big money, big banks, and malign Russian influence. Expect anti-money laundering — or AML — to become the hot new acronym of policymakers worried about weak links in the banking system.
