“We requested a legal evaluation of what we could do, and the verdict was clear. Existing collaboration with Danske Bank could not just be terminated without potential consequences for CBS. We would have been breaking the law and could potentially be subject to a lawsuit. That’s why we decided not to terminate all contracts with Danske Bank,” says Per Holten-Andersen in CBS WIRE’s podcast.

This statement sheds new light on the school’s decision to continue existing cooperation with Danske Bank and to terminate only future involvement after it became clear that the bank was deeply involved in one of Europe’s biggest bank scandals.

“These are not the morals or ethics we want to convey to our students. We considered going further.”

How much further would you have gone? Would you have terminated all collaboration?

 “To answer that clearly, I would have to go into every aspect of every collaboration with Danske Bank. But in principle, yes.

A necessary decision

The harsh actions – or at least the intended harsh actions – are part of CBS’ responsibility towards its students.

“As a university that delivers a third of all top leaders for the private sector, we simply had to react. We wanted to send a clear signal that this type of leadership is not one that we condone, and it’s certainly not the type of role model we want for our students,” says Per Holten-Andersen before he concludes:

“We need role models who dare to make the right decisions. Not only when it favors you, but also when it costs you profit.”