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Banking giant Standard Chartered has agreed to pay a 340 million dollars fine in a settlement with United States regulators over Iranian money-laundering charges. The British bank was accused of exposing the U.S. to terrorists and criminals after it emerged that the bank 'schemed' to bypass American anti-money laundering sanctions and process 250 billion dollars of transactions on behalf of Iranian clients. In the settlement, the bank admitted the value of transactions at fault amounted to "at least 250 billion dollars, not 14 million dollars as it had said. Last week the New York financial regulator claimed that the "flagrantly deceptive actions" by the British bank had left the US "vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes". According to the Telegraph, the charges wiped over 20 percent off the bank's share price in 24 hours. Standard Chartered has agreed to an extraordinary level of supervision by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), to salvage its Wall Street bank licence and avert a public showdown over its Iranian operations. "The bank shall install a monitor for a term of at least two years who will report directly to the DFS and who will evaluate the money-laundering risk controls in the New York branch and implementation of appropriate corrective measures," said the DFS in a statement. "In addition, DFS examiners shall be placed on site at the bank," it added.

Standard Chartered to pay $340m settlement over Iran money laundering