COPENHAGEN, Oct 4 — Danske Bank said today that it was being investigated by the US Department of Justice about non-resident accounts at its Estonian branch which are at the centre of a €200 billion (RM954.3 billion) money laundering scandal.

The bank said in a statement it had "received requests for information from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with a criminal investigation relating to the bank’s Estonian branch conducted by the DOJ,” and was cooperating.

Danske Bank also said it would end its share buyback programme after reassessing its capital targets after Denmark’s Financial Services Authority said its compliance and reputational risks are higher than previously thought.

Shares in Danske Bank fell by 3 per cent to 160 Danish crowns, their lowest level since January 2015 and a 33 per cent decline so far this year.

Last month, Danske Bank said in an internal report that payments totalling €200 billion, many of which it described as "suspicious”, had been moved through its tiny Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.

That scandal led to Danske Bank’s chief executive stepping down and prompted regulators across the European Union to question the oversight of the bloc’s financial sector.

Banks doing business in Estonia handled more than US$1 trillion in cross-border flows between 2008 and 2017, the country’s central bank said yesterday. — Reuters