Schumpeter
Business and management
Standard Chartered and Iran
Hush money
by T.E. | NEW YORK
IT COULD have been disastrous. Standard Chartered was facing a hearing before New York state’s Department of Financial Services
(DFS) on August 15th that would have certainly aired embarrassing
information. Instead it will be expensive. The bank has acceded to a
fast settlement of the charges that it had illicitly processed $250
billion in transactions with Iran, paying $340m in civil penalties and
agreeing to various other provisions.
As a result of the deal, the bank's management is temporarily off the hook for personal liability. Just as important, they will not have to defend the bank's actions before the regulator. The agreement also appears to cap potential penalties which, in theory, could have included losing a critical license to operate in America and thus provide its vast emerging-markets network with cross-border dollar transactions.
As a result of the deal, the bank's management is temporarily off the hook for personal liability. Just as important, they will not have to defend the bank's actions before the regulator. The agreement also appears to cap potential penalties which, in theory, could have included losing a critical license to operate in America and thus provide its vast emerging-markets network with cross-border dollar transactions.
