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US officials accuse another UK bank of wrongdoing – this time the London-listed Standard Chartered is blamed for illegal deals.
The London-listed Standard Chartered bank has been accused of violating US laws by conducting more than £160bn worth of secret transactions with Iranian entities. Officials in New York state said a banking unit of Standard Chartered bank (SCB) conducted transactions in violation of US anti-money laundering laws. It said the bank's officials lied to investigators and that it may lose its licence to operate in New York state. The Department of Financial Services said the transactions "left the US financial system vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes". It said: "For almost ten years, SCB schemed with the government of Iran and hid from regulators roughly 60,000 secret transactions, involving at least $250 billion (£160bn), and reaping SCB hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. "SCB's actions left the US financial system vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes, and deprived law enforcement investigators of crucial information used to track all manner of criminal activity."....Read more here: UK Bank Accused Of '£160bn Scheme With Iran'
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The taxpayer-backed UK bank is understood to be being scrutinised by the US Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice, after it provided information to them and to the UK regulators. RBS tonight would not comment on the nature of the alleged failings or the investigation. However it said in its half-year results earlier this month that it was conducting a “review of its policies, procedures and practices” around its processing of US dollar payments outside the US. The bank also said that it had initiated discussions with UK and US authorities to discuss its historical compliance with the relevant regulations and laws, “including US economic sanctions”.
The investigation into RBS comes after another UK bank, Standard Chartered, last week agreed to pay a $340m (£217m) fine in a humbling settlement with a US regulator over Iranian money-laundering charges. Unlike Standard Chartered, RBS is not being investigated by Benjamin Lawsky, the high-profile New York state regulator....Read more here: RBS under investigation by US authorities
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is understood to be facing investigations into whether it has broken economic sanctions against Iran. The bank would not comment, but confirmed that it had voluntarily given information on its procedures to UK and US authorities. It stated that it had approached officials after an internal inquiry. Standard Chartered and HSBC have been accused of breaking rules designed to prevent transactions with Iran. The US Department of Justice and the UK's Financial Services Authority both refused to comment on whether they were investigating RBS....Read more here: RBS may face sanctions inquiry after internal review
Standard Chartered will pay more than $300m (£187m) to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran, Burma, Libya and Sudan.
The UK bank has been fined $100m by the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice seized assets worth $227m, the regulators said. The Fed pointed to Standard Chartered's "unsafe and unsound practices". The bank already paid $340m to New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) earlier this year. The DFS had accused it of hiding 60,000 transactions with Iran worth $250bn over nearly a decade. In total, the bank has paid about $670m over suspect payments.....Read more here: BBC News - Standard Chartered hit by $300m in Iran fines