GrønlandsBANKEN cooperates with authorities in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
We contribute to this effort by maintaining a solid understanding of you as a customer and how you use the bank’s financial services and products.
The requirements for the bank’s knowledge of you as a customer are set out in the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This law requires the bank to know the identity of its customers, the reason for their banking relationship, and the expected scope of the business relationship. The law also requires the bank to document the information it holds about its customers. This is why we ask you questions and require identification.
It is important that you, as a customer and resident of Greenland, feel safe doing business with us. To prevent financial crime, the bank has a policy aimed at minimizing the risk of money laundering as much as possible. This policy also requires that the bank knows its customers and can document this. It also means that the bank will refrain from entering into business relationships with individuals or companies where we assess there is a risk that the bank could be misused for financial crime.
We are therefore required to conduct ongoing reviews of existing customer relationships. As a result, you should be prepared to answer questions about your relationship with the bank — for example, when new information is received or if there are changes in how you use the bank.
As a personal customer, you will be asked to answer a number of questions.
This allows us to get to know you and understand what you want to achieve by using the bank’s products and services.
We need this information before you can be registered as a customer. For personal customers – including children – this includes:
- Full name
- National identification number (CPR)
- Permanent address
- Valid identification
- The purpose of your banking relationship
- Reasons for large transactions
- The origin of the funds and how they will be used
- Whether you or someone close to you holds a prominent public position
- When you deposit money or transfer securities, we are required to ask about the origin of the funds or assets
- Any person holding a power of attorney for the account must also provide identification, as if they were a customer themselves
As a business customer, you are also required to provide a range of information.
This is because, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, we must know our customers and understand how you and your business intend to use the bank’s products and services.
Business customers must provide information about the following:
- Company name
- Company address
- Company or organization registration number (CVR)
- Ownership structure
- Expected annual turnover
- Expected number of cash deposits
- Expected number of international card transactions
- Expected number of international transfers
- Regarding ownership, we must know the individual(s) who directly or indirectly own more than 25% of the company.
- Representatives of the company or individuals authorized to manage the company’s funds must identify themselves and provide documentation confirming their authority to represent the company.
- Associations must present their articles of association and the most recent minutes from the general assembly.
We are subject to a duty of confidentiality and treat all information we receive with strict confidentiality.
The bank provides ongoing training to its employees in anti-money laundering so that they are able to collect accurate information and identify financial crime using the information obtained and the bank’s IT systems. In addition, the bank continuously reviews and verifies the information collected.
Bank employees also have the opportunity to report suspected financial crime. This can be done anonymously through the bank’s whistleblower system.
The bank follows the same principles as other financial institutions in the area of anti-money laundering. You can read more about these principles at Finans Danmark.
In addition, the bank is supervised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet), which monitors compliance with anti-money laundering legislation across the banking sector. The Authority has also published a number of answers to frequently asked questions from customers about the legal requirements for banks — these can be found on the Finanstilsynet website.