By Karen Freifeld
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Bank signed
a final agreement with New York's banking regulator to pay $340
million to settle allegations that it hid transactions with Iran
from regulators.
The London-based bank agreed in principle to pay the civil
penalty last month after its stock dropped amid the allegations
and a threat to revoke the bank's license to do business in New
York.
The parties agreed the conduct at issue involved
transactions of about $250 billion, Benjamin Lawsky,
superintendent of the New York state Department of Financial
Services, said in announcing the formal agreement.
A criminal investigation into Standard Chartered's practices
is close to being completed and a joint settlement with other
New York and U.S. authorities will probably be completed in the
next couple of weeks, according to a person familiar with the
probe.
"We are pleased to have reached a final settlement with the
Department of Financial Services, and we look forward to
resolving all outstanding issues with other U.S. authorities
related to our past sanctions compliance," said Julie Gibson, a
spokeswoman for Standard Chartered in New York.
The bank's negotiations with the Manhattan District
Attorney, the U.S. Treasury Department, Justice Department and
the New York Federal Reserve are "ongoing," Gibson said.
The bank could not predict when discussions with other U.S.
agencies would be completed, or the outcome, and therefore
"potential liabilities cannot be reasonably quantified," it
added in a statement.
Lawsky's move against Standard Chartered last month angered
other U.S. regulators who had spent more than two years
investigating the bank. The other regulators sought a single,
global settlement, according to people close to the matter.
According to the consent order signed Friday, New York's
Department of Financial Services found the bank provided U.S.
dollar clearing services to Iranian customers from at least 2001
through 2007.
In processing transactions, the bank stripped or left out
Iranian information from U.S. dollar wire payment information,
the agreement said.
The practice prevented regulators from "identifying
suspicious patterns of activity" which could assist law
enforcement authorities, the regulator found.
In addition to the $340 million payment, Standard Chartered
agreed to install an outside monitor for two years and to hire
an anti-money laundering auditor in its New York branch.
The other U.S. authorities negotiating with Standard
Chartered either did not immediately respond to requests for
comment or declined to comment.
(Additional reporting by Steve Slater)
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