The European Banking Authority has opened a formal investigation to see whether the Estonian Financial Services Authority (Finantsinspektsioon) and the Danish Financial Services Authority (Finanstilsynet) broke European Union law in connection with money laundering activities linked to Danske Bank in general and its Estonian branch in particular.

Last year the European Commission called on the EBA in a letter to use its powers to find out whether there "may have been a failure" by the Estonian and Danish competent authorities to comply with their legal obligations, claiming that their investigations might not have been deep enough and whether they had applied sanctions in an appropriate way. Before formally opening the investigation, the EBA conducted preliminary inquiries with both authorities.

The investigation is in accordance with Article 17 of the EBA's founding regulation.