Nordea has been fined 155 million Danish kroner by the Copenhagen District Court for violating anti-money laundering rules, in a major case prosecutors had sought to punish more harshly. The court’s ruling, announced Monday, concerns compliance failures dating from 2012 to 2015. Prosecutors had demanded a record fine of 6.6 billion kroner. The bank was acquitted on five of seven counts. Judges said Nordea acted with gross negligence in its handling of companies involved in currency exchange and money transfers. One charge focused on six companies that bought 200- and 500-euro banknotes worth a combined 85 million euros from Nordea. The court found Nordea failed to apply the heightened scrutiny required for such customers and neglected duties to investigate potentially suspicious activity. Nordea was found guilty of gross negligence for five of the six companies, and acquitted regarding the sixth because it was not a Nordea customer. The ruling also addressed electronic monitoring. The court said more than 200,000 transaction alerts were archived, which prevented suspicious transactions from being reported promptly to Denmark’s Anti-Money Laundering Secretariat. Prosecutors did not prove that the system was programmed with an insufficient number of alert scenarios, but the bank was still partially found guilty for not monitoring electronic transactions adequately. In the largest count by monetary value, prosecutors accused Nordea of failing to investigate transactions involving 25 customers between 2012 and 2015, and failing to report suspicious activity totaling more than 24 billion kroner. The court acquitted Nordea on this allegation, finding prosecutors had not sufficiently demonstrated violations of the applicable anti-money laundering law. The proceedings involved 60 court sessions starting in May 2025, after charges were formally brought by Denmark’s National Special Crime Unit in July 2024. The case began in 2016 after the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority reported Nordea to police following a supervisory inspection. In setting the 155 million kroner fine, the court considered the nature, severity, and scale of the violations, as well as potential savings from missed required checks. It also cited the unusually long proceedings. Nordea had previously set aside 700 million kroner for a possible fine and said it was satisfied with the outcome. The bank has been convicted in part and fined, while being acquitted on most of the charges.