Nordea is not under investigation related to money laundering in Baltics, says Nordea

Nordea, the Nordic region's biggest bank, is not under investigation related to money laundering in the Baltics, the bank said on Thursday.

Danske Bank earlier on Thursday said it was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice about non-resident accounts at its Estonian branch, the latest blow in a long-running scandal over lax money laundering controls at its local subsidiary.

"To the best of our knowledge, Nordea is not under investigation from authorities related to money laundering in the Baltics," a Nordea spokeswoman said in an email.

"We have good relations and continuous dialogue with authorities in all countries where we operate."

Shares in the Nordic banking sector fell on Wednesday after Bloomberg published data from Estonia's central bank which suggested the scale of money laundering activities through Estonia may have been larger than previously thought. 

(With inputs from agencies.)