Anti-corruption and crime prevention

Trust in the financial system is crucial for us to be able to do business that benefits our customers, our shareholders, economic development and society at large. For SEB, it has always been a priority to maintain the highest standards for corporate governance, compliance and risk management. Our risk culture shall be distinguished by professionalism, business acumen and strong values. 

We work strategically and long-term with strengthening our resilience towards corruption and financial crime such as money laundering and terrorism financing. We comply with rules and regulations, we work continuously with knowing our customers, we train our employees and use new technology in order to get better at preventing, detecting and reporting suspicious activity. We also have open and transparent dialogues with financial supervisory authorities in all our markets. Keeping our house in order is a prerequisite for our everyday business.

Anti-corruption

We counteract all forms of corruption, in line with rules and regulations. These include both external and internal incidents, as well as processes and behaviours. In our business, we are guided by global initiatives, international standards and our own policies and position statements.

We engage with our customers on ethical aspects, including anti-corruption, in order to understand their challenges and opportunities so that we can make the appropriate credit considerations and become a better business partner. In financing and credit granting, the area of anti-corruption risks are integrated in SEB’s know-your-customer process (KYC). Within asset management, our funds invest in companies that respect international principles and guidelines, such as the UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 

How we prevent financial crime

 SEB works long-term and in a structured way to minimise the risk of us being used for criminal purposes. This includes money laundering attempts, cyber-attacks, sabotage, intrusion attempts, crime and financing of terrorism.
Banks are no law enforcement agencies, but we do everything we can to prevent, detect and report suspicious activities. We have the highest standards for corporate governance, compliance and risk management. We welcome the strengthened collaboration between financial regulators, banks and other actors within the financial system to combat money laundering and other types of financial crime, and we constantly intensify our efforts to go beyond the current rules and regulations.
We have mandatory and recurring training of all our employees, we invest in new technology, and we have a constant and transparent dialogue with financial supervisory authorities on all markets where we operate.
That being said, financial crime is a moving target, with the whole purpose of financial criminals to hide both their assets and the purposes of their actions. SEB works, through the Swedish Bankers’ Association, for more cooperation between banks, within the financial sector, with authorities, and across national borders to increase our resilience against these threats.
Read more about how we prevent financial crime

Mandatory training and Know Your Customer

Our greatest line of defence towards financial crime is our employees, who focus on knowing our customers and making it hard for criminals to slip through. Four digital training sessions are mandatory for all 15,000 employees – the Code of Conduct (including work against corruption), Anti-money laundering, Prevention of fraud and, Cyber security.

In order to harmonise the so called Know Your Customer-process, SEB has – together with five other Nordic banks – a joint venture company to develop a platform for handling KYC data: Nordic KYC Utility. The purpose is to develop a Nordic platform with standardised processes for handling KYC data, with the objective to improve customer experience by simplifying the KYC processes for corporate customers while strengthening financial crime prevention in the Nordics.

Whistleblowing

SEB has an established whistleblowing process. Most reports of suspected irregularities are still made to local managers. Reports are also regularly made to the Head of Compliance and Head of Internal Audit, mostly via telephone or the specific email address. Notifications come from employees, but complaints also come from customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.

It is also possible to report completely anonymously via the digital service WhistleB. The service is entirely outside of SEB and meets the most strict security requirements regarding encryption, data security and protection of the whistleblower's identity.
Find out more about SEB’s whistleblowing process

How we relate to lobbying

SEB has strict guidelines towards unethical influence, whether within business or society. All actions and decisions shall comply with laws, regulations and other external rules as well as with internal instructions and policies. The SEB Group shall not support political parties through donations or otherwise.
Read more about our position on lobbying

Code of conduct

SEB’s Code of Conduct and core values, mandatory training, and dialogues on ethical and value related dilemmas strengthen awareness among our employees about the importance of our conduct.
Read our Code of Conduct.

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