Danske Bank has lost its global head of foreign exchange (Forex ), as Niklas Karlsson has left the Danish bank after working for the firm for almost two decades, Finance Magnates has learned.
Niklas Karlsson
Source: LinkedIn
The move was made public on Karlsson’s LinkedIn account, which states that he has been the former Global Head of FX for the bank since November of 2019. He confirmed to Reuters that he had been laid off as part of a broader firing spree in order to cut costs at the bank.
Niklas Karlsson joined Danske Bank in 2000
Karlsson spent 19 years a Danske Bank. According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined the Danish firm in July of 2000 as the Global Head of FX Spot/Options & Emerging Markets.
During his long tenure with the company, he worked himself up the ranks, taking on positions such as Global Head of FX Spot/Options & Sales and Senior Vice President, among other duties.
Before he was at Danske Bank, Karlsson had already been working in the forex industry for more than a decade. Specifically, he commenced his career in the space back in 1987 when he joined Svenska Handelsbanken Malmoe as a senior FX dealer.
During his extensive career, he has also held the role of chief FX dealer at Svenska Handelsbanken N.Y, where he led the spot forex team, and Head of Financial Trading, Energy products at Sydkraft Energy trading.
The fact that Danske Bank is reportedly trying to cut costs is not overly surprising. This is because the bank has been part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation. In particular, the company’s Estonian branch is being looked into.
As Finance Magnates reported, a Whistleblower , who has since been identified as Howard Wilkinson, the branch’s former Head of Trading, revealed that anti-money laundering procedures were not being properly adhered to. Since then, other big players, such as Deutsche Bank, have been brought into the investigation.
