Banks help money move through society. Salaries are paid, companies receive payments, savings are invested and people use digital services to manage their everyday lives. For this to work, the financial system must be safe, reliable and trusted.
That trust is also what criminals try to exploit. Financial crime is a threat to all of society, and criminals constantly seek new ways to misuse banks, bank customers and the financial system. It can be used to hide criminal profits, finance serious crime and undermine confidence in society’s institutions.
This is why crime prevention is a vital part of SEB’s business and our role as a bank. Although there are no perfect systems, we work relentlessly to strengthen our defences and develop our ability to detect, prevent and report suspected activity.
Every year, we report thousands of suspicious transactions to authorities and cooperate closely with authorities, police and other banks.
We protect our systems, employees, and society through strong cybersecurity, crime prevention, and anti-money laundering efforts, fostering trust and stability.
Digitalisation is transforming every aspect of banking, making the stability and reliability of the bank's IT platform crucial. Interruptions or breaches in these systems can have significant consequences for customers, suppliers, and employees alike.
Awareness among employees is key in our efforts to prevent crime. Our employees are essential to detect irregularities – be it with the help of computer systems or through interaction with people.
Money laundering is the illegal process of criminals trying to make funds made from unlawful activity seem to have been generated from a legitimate source. This poses a threat not just to banks and the entire financial system but also to democracy and society as a whole.
The Swedish Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography project started already in 2008 and is now part of a permanent activity.
Banks play a key role in combating money laundering, a global threat. SEB joined forces with Swedish police and banks in 2020 through SAMLIT to strengthen anti-money laundering efforts.
The Code of Conduct describes SEB’s way of working and guides us in our business relationships.
SEB has a whistleblowing process for reporting irregularities. If an employee or other person should discover possible unethical or unlawful behaviour, they should report their observations.
SEB has strict guidelines towards unethical influence, whether within business or society.
As a part of our normal business behaviour, SEB fights money laundering and terrorist financing.