Europe’s €200bn“dirty money” scandal 

Flows of €200 billion of dodgy non-resident funds through Danske
Estonia’s online transaction services* between 2007 and 2015 represents more than a fifth of cross-border receipts through the Baltic state

RUSSIA €46bn
ESTONIA €46bn 
LATVIA €24bn
CYPRUS €18bn
UK €8bn
OTHER €58bn 
150 countries


Incoming funds
Outgoing funds

ESTONIA €30bn
LATVIA  €28bn
CHINA   €14bn
SWITZ   €12bn
TURKEY  €12bn                           
OTHER €104bn

Funds to non-resident † clients transferred by European and U.S. correspondent banks

Estonian banks’ cross-border transactions (€ billions)

Total (no data available for 2007)   Danske Bank Estonia

2007: Danske Bank buys Sampo Bank with 3,300 non-resident clients

150
120
90
60
30
0      2007  2008  2009  2020  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015


18.8
23.0  103.5
16.8  84.3
23.4  88.3
19.7  98.8
26.6  115.3
32.3  141.4
26.3  136.6
13.1  119.5

€887.6bn   Total flow 2008-15

*Transactional banking allows money to come in and go out immediately †Bank that provides services on behalf of another



Sources: Central bank of Estonia, Bloomberg, Forbes, Reuters   © GRAPHIC NEWS