That’s not really what this is about, from reading the article. That is, the charges are not for the laundering itself.
Rather, they are for making misleading statements in two interviews that caused investors to over-value the bank, which exposed then to loss.
But to mislead is not enough to commit swindling, Johannisson stressed. What made the difference is the financial damage that her misleading statements caused.
When Swedish Television’s investigative flagship “Mission: Investigate” later published leaked information showing suspicious clients funneling tens of billions of dollars through the bank, Swedbank’s share plunged on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, resulting in substantial losses for the shareholders.
The case has not been about whether money was actually found to be laundered through the bank, but how the CEO claimed that the bank handled such apparent risk.
This particular sentence isn’t aimed at deterring banks from laundering money. I don’t even know if the CEO is personally criminally liable for that. It’s aimed at deterring people running companies from making statements about them that would mislead investors. Important if you want your country to be a desirable place to do investment.