Benjamin Lawsky, New York’s top financial regulator, has asked more than a dozen banks including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, for documents related to their currency trading practices, a person familiar with the matter said.

To see how the federal government has pursued money-laundering cases against big banks over their dealings with Iran and other countries under US trade sanctions, consider what happened when Barclays and the justice department were required to file reports describing the UK bank’s co-operation under a settlement in 2010.

Standard Chartered chief executive Peter Sands hit back at a New York regulator’s claims the bank broke US sanctions, and said he saw “no grounds” for revoking the lender’s licence.