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Standard Chartered Dinged $327 Million for Lack of Candor with Regulators
By Brian Monroe
printA nearly $330 million deferred prosecution agreement with a London-based bank reinforces the perils financial institutions face when reviewing batches of previous transactions for possible sanctions or anti-money laundering violations. The $327 million penalty Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) agreed to pay Monday speaks to the greater issue of how transparent banks should be when they are the subject of a targeted examination, said Adam Kaufmann, executive assistant district attorney and chief of the investigation division in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. "You can't be too cute" when investigators ask for all data related to transactions with sanctioned countries "because that...
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For many anti-money laundering and sanctions professionals, 2012 will be remembered as a year of record fines. Banks paid billions to settle AML and sanctions compliance violations, with one penalty alone reaching almost $2 billion.
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New York's $340 million sanctions settlement with Standard Chartered Plc will likely serve as a model for similar compliance-related agreements, even as it deters some banks from obtaining state licenses.
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