Given that criminals may use financial services in order to launder money to fund their criminal activities, proper Know-Your-Customer (KYC) practices are central. Knowledge of the customer helps us understand the general activities in which the customer would usually be expected to engage. As a bank, we are required to detect unusual and suspicious activities and to determine whether a specific customer is present on various sanctions lists.

Money-laundering and terrorism not only harm the whole society but can also damage the stability and reputation of the financial sector. It is obviously in the financial industry's and society's best interests that financial institutions take all reasonable measures to prevent money-laundering and terrorist financing.To detect money-laundering, Swedbank cooperates with a number of actors, including other banks, authorities and the police. 

To ensure the effective establishment and implementation of a company culture that opposes money-laundering and terrorist financing, Swedbank has procedures such as the following in place:

• Swedbank has adopted a Policy on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing that requires all parts of Swedbank Group to develop and implement effective programs to comply with applicable laws.
• Customer Due Diligence (CDD) includes, among other things, identifying the customer and verifying the customer’s identity on the basis of documents, data or information obtained from reliable and independent sources. We also need to understand the ownership and control structure of our customers. 
• The Group performs daily screening of the customer base against financial sanctions and PEP¹ lists. All international payments are also screened in real time in regard to financial sanctions.
• The initiation or maintenance of a business relationship with a PEP¹ or other relevant high-risk customer needs to be approved by an authorised decision-maker.