There was great joy on the Stockholm Stock Exchange because there would now be more money to distribute to shareholders.
The stock was up around 6 percent in early Thursday trading.
On Wednesday evening, the news finally came. The US Department of Justice has closed its investigation into Swedbank "without action."
This means the bank will avoid paying the feared billion-dollar fines to the US over the money-laundering deficiencies revealed in its Baltic operations in 2019, for which Swedbank was fined by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
The legal process is not over. Swedbank is still being investigated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS).
