The European Central Bank has imposed an administrative penalty of EUR 2.26 million on Nordea Finance Finland Ltd (Nordea Rahoitus Suomi Oy) for wrongly reporting its largest exposures and breaching the EU large exposures limit. For 13 consecutive quarters between 2021 and 2024, the bank incorrectly assigned guaranteed receivables to the debtors rather than the guarantors when calculating large exposures, contrary to a regulatory change introduced in 2021. This misclassification led the bank to exceed the 25% of capital cap for a single large exposure under EU law; large exposures are defined as exposures above 10% of a bank’s capital. The ECB found the breaches were committed with serious negligence and noted deficiencies in internal controls contributed to both the occurrence and duration of the breaches; it classified the reporting and limit breaches as “severe” under its penalty-setting methodology. Nordea Finance Finland has the right to challenge the decision before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
European Central Bank - Banking Supervision 2026-03-10
European Central Bank imposes EUR 2.26 million penalty on Nordea Finance Finland for misreporting and exceeding the large exposures limit
The European Central Bank imposed a EUR 2.26 million penalty on Nordea Finance Finland Ltd for misreporting its largest exposures and breaching the EU large exposures limit. For 13 quarters, the bank incorrectly assigned guaranteed receivables, leading to breaches of the 25% capital cap for a single large exposure. The ECB cited serious negligence and internal control deficiencies, classifying the breaches as "severe."