StanChart pays out $340m over Iran dealings

Standard Chartered agreed last night to pay $340m (£217m) to settle sanctions-busting allegations in the US, protecting its valuable New York banking licence and averting an embarrassing public hearing that had been scheduled for today.

The bank has admitted processing $14m of Iranian money through the US, in contravention of strict financial sanctions on the country, but the New York state Department of Financial Services additionally accused it of deliberately obscuring the origins of $250bn of Iranian money that flowed in and out of its US subsidiary.

DFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky announced that the bank will pay the $340m civil penalty to the state. It also will install a monitor for at least two years who will evaluate the money-laundering risk controls of its New York branch.