By Dominic Chopping
Danske Bank AS on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net profit in line with consensus after it resolved long-running money laundering probes during the quarter.
The Copenhagen-based bank made a quarterly net profit of 4.17 billion Danish kroner ($616.1 million) compared to the DKK4.25 billion average seen in a company-compiled consensus.
Net interest income rose 18% to DKK7.44 billion versus the DKK7.13 billion expected.
Danske Bank late last year agreed to pay about $2 billion to settle U.S. and Danish probes into anti-money-laundering failures that led to hundreds of billions of dollars of suspicious transactions flowing largely unchecked through a former branch in Estonia between 2007 and 2015.
“These resolutions mark the end of the investigations into Danske Bank by U.S. and Danish authorities,” the bank said. “We can now fully shift our attention to the opportunities ahead.”
For 2023, the bank expects a net profit of DKK15 billion-DKK17 billion. Core income lines are expected to grow, driven by higher net interest income and efforts to drive commercial momentum, while income from trading and insurance activities are expected to recover from 2022 levels.
Danske Bank expects costs in 2023 to be DKK25 billion-DKK25.5 billion with loan impairment charges of up to DKK3 billion.
Write to Dominic Chopping at [email protected]
— to news.google.com
