UPDATE 1-Sweden studies Swedbank complaint from anti-corruption investor Browder

Bill Browder, a fund manager who campaigns to expose corruption, has filed a criminal complaint with Swedish authorities over Swedbank's alleged link to a Baltic money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank. Swedbank, which said it had not yet seen the complaint, is the subject of a joint investigation by Swedish and Estonian financial watchdogs after a media report tied it to alleged money laundering through Denmark's largest bank.

"In cases where authorities start investigations, we cooperate fully with them and view it positively that these issues are being looked into," a Swedbank spokesman said. Browder, who founded Hermitage Capital and was once the biggest foreign money manager in Russia, made the filing with authorities including Swedish prosecutors and police as well as the ministry of finance, copies of the complaint show.

"The next step will be to appoint a prosecutor who will look at this complaint and see if a preliminary investigation should be initiated or not," a spokesman for the Swedish Economic Crime Authority said, adding it received the complaint on Monday. Browder has urged various government authorities to bring cases linked to money laundering against Danske Bank. (Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Helena Soderpalm in Stockholm and John O'Donnell in Frankfurt; Editing by Stephen Coates and Alexander Smith)

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