Standard Chartered agrees to a $340 million settlement for money laundering

Πηγή: FP
By Mary Casey, Jennifer Parker
August 15 2012

Standard Chartered, the British bank accused by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) of laundering $250 billion for Iranian institutions, has agreed to a $340 million settlement ahead of a trial that had been set for Wednesday. 

The settlement will be the largest ever paid to a U.S. regulator in a money laundering case. 

The settlement came just over a week after the New York state regulators accused Standard Chartered of hiding 60,000 financial transactions for Iranian organizations, in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which have been in place for decades. 

The bank admitted to only 300 transactions that breached sanctions on Iran, totaling $14 million. According to the agreement, Standard Chartered will pay the "civil penalty" to the DFS, which will allow the bank to keep its New York State license. 

Additionally, it will place a monitor in the institution to evaluate money-laundering controls and permanent staff for auditing. Also, DFS examiners will be installed at the New York branch. Standard Chartered remains under acriminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as the U.S. Department of State and Department of Justice.