ANALYSIS: U.S., Europe Respond to Danske Bank/Swedbank Crisis

The discovery of extensive money laundering through Danske Bank and Swedbank revealed weaknesses in the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes of European countries regarded as the world’s least corrupt. The United States, connected to the crisis through Deutsche Bank, has its own issues to address with its apparent long-term inattention to AML/CFT problems at Deutsche Bank and equally long-term failure to address its own problem with anonymous shell companies.

The U.S. and the Baltic States are laboring through the task of wading through the domestic and cross-border financial and legal issues revealed by the crisis. Lack ...