Danske Bank, which is reeling from a €200bn ((£176bn) money-laundering scandal, was dealt another humiliating blow on Wednesday when the Danish financial regulator blocked its candidate to become chief executive.
The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) intervened to stop the appointment of Jacob Aarup-Andersen, warning that the internal candidate did not have enough experience to lead the country’s biggest lender, which has been plunged into crisis by what the European commission said in September was “the biggest scandal” in Europe.
Aarup-Andersen, 40, who was Danske Bank’s head of wealth management, had been the board’s unanimous choice to lead the bank after the resignation of the former boss Thomas Borgen.
However, the regulator stepped in to block the appointment, warning that Aarup-Andersen, who joined Danske in 2016, did not have enough experience.
It is an embarrassing blow for the Danske board, which is already facing questions over its failure to spot the money-laundering scheme and for not taking immediate action to remove Borgen from his post when the scandal first came to light.
