Danish bank, Danske Bank has appointed Jesper Nielsen as interim Chief Executive Officer following bank’s Board director Thomas Borgen to resign on September 19th for his role in Europe’s worst money-laundering scandals amounting to Euro 200 billion.
Thomas Borgen was forced to resign last month following an internal report on suspicious dealings in Estonia and shareholders direction to Borgen to leave the bank immediately. Borgen emailed to Bloomberg saying: “the board agreed it was “best for all parties that the person who leads management is also around to complete the job, and seeing as I’ve resigned, that person is not me.”
In September, following rumours, Danske admitted to the money laundering charges of around €200 billion ($235 billion) that was passed through its Estonian operations and resulted in the initiation of criminal investigations by the local regulators in Denmark.
Jesper Nielsen is working with the bank since 1996 and most recently he was serving as Head of Banking in Denmark. Nielsen said that his elevation as an interim CEO is mostly a formality and he is looking forward to some kind of permanent solution to restore the faith in the company.
Per Hansen, an investment economist at Nordnet in Copenhagen said:
“There are several reasons why it makes sense to appoint an interim CEO instead of already naming a permanent replacement. Danske Bank probably decided that it was important to start the post-Borgen era as quickly as possible. But for investors, it will be more relevant when a long-term solution is found.”
