Our efforts to remediate legacy issues are progressing, and we have now resolved six legacy issues. With regards to the debt collection issue, we have finalised the preliminary investigations in our other markets.

In recent years, Danske Bank has systematically improved compliance, risk and control capabilities and processes and sought to foster a management culture under which potential issues are raised and addressed. As a result, a number of legacy issues that have caused detriment to our customers were identified. At mid-February 2022, we had resolved six of these legacy issues.

“We have resolved six of our legacy issues, but I know that we still have important work in front of us in especially remediating the additional issues in our debt collection systems. We deeply regret that some customers have been affected by these errors. Unfortunately, we cannot undo these past mistakes, most of them are many years old, but we are committed to righting the wrongs we have identified. This is what we have been doing and will continue doing,” says Peter Rostrup-Nielsen, head of the central unit established in October 2020 to ensure timely, consistent and proactive management of legacy issues.

Six resolved legacy issues

• The issue of 27,000 customers that may have been presented with flawed estimates for profits and losses before trading shares, has been resolved, and correct estimates are now presented. As part of our investigations, we have concluded that customers have always received the correct share price and received the correct amount when performing actual trades.
• 600 customers were registered with an investment profile that did not match the agreement they made. We have contacted all affected customers and held customer meetings where possible to ensure alignment between their agreement and profile. The actual return on the customer’s investment has, in a significant number of the cases been higher due to the registration error, while 320 customers were entitled to compensation. Except for a few special cases, all customers have received their compensation.
• 39 customers’ loan maturities had regrettably become infinite due to payments not covering interest accrued after increasing interest rates. This has been adjusted and system changes have now been implemented to prevent the loan term from extending beyond a certain limit.
• Except for special cases, we have compensated the 1,900 business customers that had paid a credit renewal fee that we had no basis for charging.
• We have compensated the 2,000 customers entitled to compensation as a result of delays in our tax reclaim service regarding dividend tax on foreign securities, except for special cases.
• We have finalised the analysis of the 915 trades – concerning approximately 1,150 customers – affected by the agency fee issue. Approximately 600 customers have received a total of DKK 13.2 million in compensation, including compensation for time and interest, of which outstanding debt has been reduced by DKK 9.6 million. The remaining approximately 500 customers are parties in closed estate cases, where dialogue will be held with the authorities in order to process. The compensation excluding time and tax to be paid out to this group is approximately DKK 1.3 million.

Remediation of the debt collection issue continues
As previously communicated, we have initiated preliminary reviews of the debt collection systems in our other markets. Preliminary reviews in Finland and Sweden were finalised in 2021, whereas Norway and Northern Ireland were finalised in January 2022.

• The preliminary review for Norway shows that issues similar to those we have seen in Denmark may also be present in Norway. We will complete an extended analysis in Norway to clarify the potential consequences as well as potential derivative issues and the need for potential action towards affected debt collection customers. The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority has been informed.
• The preliminary review of our debt collection in Northern Ireland has not confirmed systemic issues. However, an extended analysis is required to confirm this and to investigate operational issues which may have affected our debt customers in Northern Ireland. The financial authorities in Northern Ireland has been informed.

“Our focus is to resolve these complex issues for our customers as thoroughly and quickly as possible. As our investigation and remediation processes progress, we gain more knowledge on how the issues are interlinked both in Denmark and in other markets. This is also why we chose to carry out an additional review of how our debt collection customers in other markets may be impacted. We will continue this work to ensure final clarification across markets, and we very much regret that we cannot provide it yet,” says Peter Rostrup-Nielsen.

Danske Bank