MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Standard Chartered could pay some US$ 1 billion to resolve an investigation into Iran US sanctions violations

Standard Chartered has been operating under deferred prosecution agreements with U.S. authorities since 2012, when it paid US$ 667 million for illegally moving funds

London based Standard Chartered is expected to pay slightly more than US$1 billion to resolve a nearly five-year-old investigation of potential U.S. sanctions violations tied to its banking for Iran-controlled entities in Dubai, as well as a related U.K. probe, according to a report from Reuters.

Authorities are aiming for the bank to settle on Tuesday morning. Standard Chartered has been operating under deferred prosecution agreements with U.S. authorities since 2012, when it paid US$ 667 million for illegally moving millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of customers in Iran, Sudan, Libya and Burma.

The agreement has been extended numerous times, the last one extended for 10 days and set to expire on Wednesday. The expected total payout also covers a roughly US$134 million penalty from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority related to historical financial crime controls.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, the Federal Reserve, the Manhattan District Attorney and the New York Department of Financial Services all declined to comment. The FCA also declined to comment.

The latest U.S. investigation stems in part from evidence found during a probe of French bank BNP Paribas, which paid a record US$8.9 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty in 2014 to sanctions-related charges, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

Investigators found BNP had done business with a Dubai-registered corporation that acted as a front for an Iranian entity back in 2014, according to the Reuters report. Investigators said the company also once had an account with Standard Chartered.

Two former Standard Chartered bankers operating out of Dubai apparently have also been under scrutiny for possible misconduct and could face criminal charges in the probe.

Standard Chartered said in February it had set aside US$ 900 million related to the potential resolution of violations of U.S. sanctions and foreign exchange trading. That sum also included the FCA penalty.

A resolution of the FCA probe is expected at the same time as the U.S. settlements.

In its annual report, Standard Chartered said the latest U.S. investigation is focused on the extent to which conduct and control failures allowed clients with Iranian interests to conduct transactions through the bank between 2007 and 2014.

Other banks to settle with U.S. authorities over sanctions-related misconduct in the past decade include Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC