Standard Chartered to pay $340m Iran ‘fine’

Standard Chartered has agreed to pay $340m (€276m) to settle allegations that it hid transactions with Iran from regulators, the New York Department of Financial Services said last night.

In addition to the civil penalty, the bank agreed to install a monitor for at least two years to evaluate the bank’s money-laundering risk controls in its New York branch, the department said in a statement.

The department also said it had adjourned a hearing set for today at which it had called on Standard Chartered to demonstrate why its New York state banking licence should not be revoked.

“The parties have agreed that the conduct at issue involved transactions of at least $250bn,” the department said in a statement.

The bank did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the settlement.

New York Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky made the allegations against Standard Chartered on Aug 6, saying it was a “rogue institution” for breaking US sanctions.

The announcement came after Standard Chartered’s chief executive Peter Sands, who strongly denied the allegations last week, flew to New York to take personal control of the bank’s attempts to reach a settlement.

— Reuters