23/07/2018 (Agence Europe) – The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) decided on Monday 23 July to levy fines totalling €2.48 million on a Danish bank (Danske Bank) and four Swedish banks (SEB, Nordea Bank, Svenska Handelsbanken and Swedbank) for issuing credit ratings without authorisation. Each bank is being fined €495,000 for violation of the regulation governing the modalities for issuing credit ratings in the EU, which stipulates that prior authorisation is required from ESMA. The incidents occurred from June 2011 to August 2016 and lasted for more than six months, with SEB continuing to issue the credit ratings without authorisation until during the month of May 2018. The five banks may appeal against these decisions at the appeals chamber of the European financial supervision authorities. (MF)