The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet) published a supervisory report from its January 2025 inspection of DNB Group’s business in New York, including activities in the subsidiary DNB Capital LLC, as part of its oversight of the group’s capital strength, risk exposures, and governance and control systems. Finanstilsynet concludes that DNB’s high credit growth in North American renewable energy over the past two years increases risk, and that the branch’s operational and compliance risk management must remain robust given extensive links to the wider group. Rapid renewables growth was assessed in the context of DNB’s target to finance and arrange NOK 1,500 billion for the sustainable transition by 2030. Finanstilsynet identifies high political risk arising from the importance of support and subsidy schemes for North American renewable projects, and expects the bank to allow for the possibility that risks are underestimated in its current project finance model. The report also notes financing to other sectors sensitive to changes in operating conditions and assumes the bank actively assesses scenarios linked to geopolitical unrest and adjusts strategy and credit policy accordingly. For non-financial risks, local supervisory requirements include documented controls for AML/CFT and IT risk, with annual independent validations by approved providers; Finanstilsynet views the New York branch as having high inherent operational risk due to strong interconnections with the group and calls for high-quality processes, clear roles and responsibilities, and sufficient resourcing to implement identified improvements. It also notes that risk from large payment settlements with the US central bank is expected to be reduced further by DNB establishing direct access for settlements during 2025, reducing reliance on data providers.
Norwegian Finanstilsynet 2025-09-24
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway highlights elevated risk in DNB’s New York operations amid rapid North America renewables credit growth
The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet) released a report on DNB Group’s New York operations, highlighting increased risk from high credit growth in North American renewable energy. It emphasizes the need for robust risk management due to extensive group links and high political risk from reliance on support schemes. Finanstilsynet calls for improved processes to manage non-financial risks, including AML/CFT and IT risk, and notes plans to reduce settlement risk with the US central bank by establishing direct access in 2025.