StanChart may face fresh line for ‘sanctions’ breach

Bloomberg

Standard Chartered Plc has already paid a painful penalty for secretly moving billions of dollars through the US on behalf of Iranian clients, in violation of sanctions. But a sweeping investigation has found evidence suggesting that the bank’s Iranian business was more extensive than it admitted, according to five people familiar with the matter.
Now US authorities are weighing a criminal penalty against Standard Chartered and individual employees, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about the probe.
A coalition of enforcement and regulatory agencies, including the Justice Department, New York’s Department of Financial Services and the Manhattan District Attorney, have finished their investigation and may announce the resolution by the end of the year, the people said.
Authorities may impose an even bigger fine than the $667 million the bank paid in 2012 to penalise it for what they view as concealment, though specific numbers had not yet been discussed in negotiations as of early August, according to the people, who declined to comment on private talks. In securities filings, the bank has said it could face a range of civil and criminal penalties stemming from the case, “including substantial monetary penalties.” Standard Chartered hasn’t set aside specific reserves for this matter.
“We continue to fully cooperate with the investigation regarding our historical sanctions compliance and are engaged in ongoing discussions with the US authorities,” Julie Gibson, a spokeswoman for Standard Chartered, said. “While we do not comment on the substance of those discussions, we look forward to the resolution of this matter.”
Standard Chartered fell as much as 2.2 percent and was trading 1.8 percent lower in London, the worst performer among the 40 members in the Bloomberg Europe 500 Banks and Financial Services Index.
In its annual report, the bank said the US probe is “examining the extent to which conduct and control failures permitted clients with Iranian interests to conduct transactions through Standard Chartered Bank.”
How the case is resolved may reveal much about the US’s approach to enforcement on issues of key concern under President Donald Trump.
He has reasserted a hard line on Iran, which the administration views as a state sponsor of terrorism and a source of regional instability, scuttling the nuclear agreement struck by the Obama administration and re-imposing the sanctions regime that had been in place before.