COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danske Bank, caught up in one of the world's biggest money laundering scandals, reported first-quarter pre-tax profits below expectations and lowered its outlook for 2019 in part due to higher funding costs.
Denmark's biggest lender said it now expects net interest income for the full year to be lower than last year's level. It had previously said it expected net interest income to be around the 2018 level.
Profit before tax fell 35 percent to 4.01 billion Danish crowns (£464.3 million) in the period, compared to the 4.47 billion forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
"The Estonia case continues to require considerable management attention, including the ongoing investigations and our efforts to restore trust in us," interim Chief Executive Jesper Nielsen said in a statement.
The bank is attempting to restore trust among investors and clients after it said last year it had channelled 200 billion euros ($223 billion) of suspicious payments through its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Louise Heavens)
