Joint statement by the Estonian FSA and the Danish FSA
The Estonian financial supervision and resolution authority Finantsinspektsioon and the Danish FSA in
this statement express their shared understanding of the supervisory responsibilities between the two
regulators, as a response to numerous respective inquiries from media.
According to the European Union banking directives, as a general rule, the prudential supervising activity
for cross-border operating banks lies with the Financial Supervisory Authority of the home country.
According to the European AML regulation, specifically section 48 in the Fourth European AML Directive,
AML measures are supervised by the competent authorities of the host country. Where the bank operates
establishments in another Member State, the competent authority of the home Member State is respon-
sible for supervising the obliged entity's application of group-wide AML/CFT policies and procedures. The
competent authority of the home Member State should cooperate closely with the competent authority of
the host Member State and should inform the latter of any issues that could affect their assessment of
the establishment's compliance with the host AML/CFT rules.
As an example of the division of the supervisory responsibilities, the Danish FSA has recently conducted
an investigation into Danske Bank’s management and control related to the branch in Estonia, whereas
Finantsinspektsioon of Estonia has conducted investigations on AML organization and compliance within
Danske Bank’s Estonian branch.
In Estonia and Denmark, criminal law matters with regard to money
laundering, terrorist financing and respective criminal procedure is decided and carried out by police and
public prosecutor. Finantsinspektsioon and the Danish FSA are not national FIUs either. Financial super-
visory authorities concentrate on prudential and conduct of business supervision of financial intermediar-
ies, according to applicable law.
Finantsinspektsioon and the Danish FSA are both committed to perform their respective supervisory du-
ties and to collaborate and share information.