Sweden closes Swedbank probe over alleged breach of market abuse rules

In Sweden, the country’s financial market watchdog has closed an investigation of possible violations of EU market abuse rules in Swedbank, a dominating bank in the Baltic states, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
A year ago, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority launched the probe over suspicion that the lender could have violated Articles 17 and 18 of the EU «Regulation No 596/2014 on market abuse».
The body has now ended the investigation referring to a May 5, 2021 decision by the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange. Its disciplinary committee ordered Swedbank AB to pay a fine of twelve annual fees, equivalent to 46.6 million Swedish kronor (EUR 4.7 million), for shortcomings in the distribution of information in the period from 2016 to 2019. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority gave no other comment on the probe.
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ERR reports that Jens Henriksson, the President and CEO of Swedbank, commented with optimism: «One by one we leave the historical issues behind to instead fully focus on our customers’ future.»