Barclays Wrong Choice
at 8:50 AM
From Britain's Citywire:
On the face of it, Barclays had a simple choice: do business with the US, the world's largest economy, or seek to make a profit from Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma – all countries subject to US sanctions.
The British bank got this choice wrong for over a decade and now it must pay $298 million (£190 million) to the US authorities. It is accused of handling hundreds of millions of dollars in clandestine transactions with banks in the five countries between March 1995 and September 2006 during which the bank allegedly removed details from payments to hide the origin of the countries. The bank was charged with violating the International Emergency Powers Act and another count of 'trading with the enemy'.
Barclays joins Lloyds TSB, which agreed to pay $350 million after accepting deposits from Iranian and Sudanese banks that were banned from interfacing with the US financial system. In a process referred to internally as 'stripping', Lloyds employees removed customer details from payments so that wire transfers would pass undetected. ABN AMRO, Credit Suisse and UBS have all been hit with fines for violating US sanctions.
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