After Standard Chartered Bank, government agencies in the US are
investigating dealings of Deutsche Bank and many other global banks over
accusations of funnelling billions of dollars through their branches in
New York for sanctioned nations like Iran and Sudan, a media report
said.
NEW YORK: After Standard Chartered Bank, government agencies in
the US are investigating dealings of Deutsche Bank and many other
global banks over accusations of funnelling billions of dollars through
their branches in New York for sanctioned nations like Iran and Sudan, a
media report said. The investigation into Deutsche Bank is the latest
in a series of cases against global financial firms since 2009, a report
in the New York Times said.
Earlier this week, Global banking
giant Standard Chartered agreed to pay $340 million to New York's top
banking regulator, settling allegations that it hid about 60,000
transactions worth $250 billion with the Iranian government and exposing
the US financial system to terrorists, weapon dealers and drug
kingpins.
It suggests the practice of transferring money on
behalf of Iranian banks and corporations flourished under a loophole in
US policy that ended in 2008, the report added.
A spokesman for
the German Bank said it had decided in 2007 to "not engage in new
business with counter-parties in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan
and North Korea and to exit existing business to the extent legally
possible" . According to law enforcement officials, the investigation
into Indian-origin Anshuman Jain-led Deutsche Bank is still in its very
early stages, the daily said.
"So far, there is no suspicion
that the bank moved money on behalf of Iranian clients through its
American operations after 2008," the officials said in the report.
However,
the recent clash between New York's top banking regulator and federal
authorities against Standard Chartered could complicate the
investigations, it said.
"The US prosecutors worry that the $340
million settlement between the New York regulator, Benjamin M Lawsky,
and Standard Chartered sends a message to international banks and
regulators that American authorities are uncoordinated and torn by
divisions — since Lawsky acted alone in levelling the charges and
settling the case," the report said. Prosecutors also worry that foreign
banks and regulators would no longer easily cooperate in handing over
key transaction data that reveal the parties behind the global movement
of tainted money, it added.
Since 2009, the justice department,
the treasury department and the Manhattan district attorney's office
have brought charges against five foreign banks. The cases against the
five banks included deferred prosecution agreements and required
thebanks — ABN Amro, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Lloyds and ING — to
forfeit a substantial amount of assets, it said.