Info:
In April 2019, it was reported that Standard Chartered may have to pay approximately $1 billion to settle its ongoing investigations in the US and UK. Earlier in February the company had set aside $900 million towards resolution of violations of U.S. sanctions and forex trading regulations. The company also faces a penalty of roughly $134 million from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority related to historical financial crime controls which takes the amount to over $1 billion;
British banks Standard Chartered and HSBC were reportedly among financial institutions misled by Chinese technology giant Huawei into funneling illicit payments from Iran, The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to the Journal, Huawei allegedly used a third-party intermediary — a small Hong Kong-based technology firm called Skycom — to channel payments between the company and Iran;
(Financial Times, “Standard Chartered: The Iranian connection,” 9/20/15) – “Nine years on, after paying nearly $1bn in fines to US regulators and law enforcement agencies for sanction breaches and compliance failures, StanChart seems no closer to ending its legal problems. A Financial Times investigation has identified transactions involving Iran that could put the bank at risk of severe penalties ranging from further fines to suspension or loss of its crucial dollar clearing licence. Documents seen by the FT suggest that StanChart continued to seek new business from Iranian and Iran-connected companies after it had committed in 2007 to stop working with such clients. These activities include foreign exchange transactions that, people familiar with StanChart operations say, would have involved the US dollar. The documents suggest the bank – a few months after a costly settlement with US authorities in 2012 – was still internally reviewing its client list and was unable to determine in certain cases whether customers were Iranian or not… The US Department of Justice, the Manhattan district attorney, the Federal Reserve, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) and most recently, the New York attorney-general’s office, are all investigating StanChart for potential new sanctions breaches. The probes, most of which became public late last year, are scrutinising whether StanChart breached sanctions after the period covered by its 2012 settlement, when the bank declared it had ‘ceased all new business with Iranian customers in any currency’ five years earlier. A pivotal issue is whether senior executives condoned the bank’s continuing business with Iran, according to people familiar with the investigations;
Industry:
Banking
Financial services
Established:
1969
Also Known As:
SC
Country:
United Kingdom
Address:
London, England, UK
Website:
www.sc.com
E-mail:
info@sc.com
Person of interests:
José Viñals (Group Chairman)
Bill Winters (Group Chief Executive)
Reason for the color:
» U.S. Treasury Department Announces Settlement with Standard Chartered Bank;