The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has published a supervisory report on DNB's UK operations, including DNB (UK) Ltd, identifying high operational risk in the London branch and calling for strong governance and control both locally and from the group centre. The report says the branch is tightly integrated with the rest of DNB, faces extensive requirements from UK supervisors, and must improve how it documents control of non-financial risks. It also says credit memoranda for exposures with high anti-money laundering risk should state more clearly why the risk is high, what controls were carried out, and why the residual risk is acceptable. The authority points to risks arising from the branch's matrix organisation, including the potential for misunderstandings and information gaps, and says the bank should combine different risk reports into a more holistic view of branch-wide risk. It notes that local reporting has identified external fraud, data management and key-person risk in information technology as critically high, while planned outsourcing of know-your-customer processes to DNB Riga creates operational risk and requires updated risk assessment and continued local control. Given the geopolitical situation, the report also stresses the need for close customer follow-up, especially for clients involved in international trade. According to the board comments referenced in the report, Management Committee will begin receiving quarterly credit risk reports from the second quarter of 2026. The bank also agreed that AML and counter-terrorist financing risk should be reflected more clearly in decision memoranda, and the branch has planned further improvements to its control work.
Norwegian Finanstilsynet2026-05-27
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway flags high operational risk and AML documentation gaps in DNB's UK operations
The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published a supervisory report on DNB’s UK operations, identifying high operational risk in the London branch and calling for stronger governance, non-financial risk documentation and a more holistic risk view. It highlights critically high risks in external fraud, data management and key-person risk in IT, as well as operational risks from outsourcing know-your-customer processes to DNB Riga and heightened geopolitical risks for clients in international trade. DNB will introduce quarterly credit risk reports to the Management Committee from the second quarter of 2026 and strengthen anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing considerations in decision memoranda and branch controls.