U.S. authorities are forming a group with New York’s top financial regulator to negotiate a settlement with Standard Chartered PLC over allegations it illegally hid financial dealings with Iran.
The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney’s office are scrambling to reach an understanding with the New York State Department of Financial Services over the ground rules for negotiations with the U.K.’s fifth-largest bank by assets, according to people familiar with the talks.
The New York regulator this week accused Standard Chartered of conducting illegal financial transactions and scheming to hide them from regulators.
The company has called the claims “factually inaccurate,” and U.K. political figures launched a rare attack on the regulator’s case Wednesday.
The U.S. regulators’ talks are at an early stage, and negotiators are trying to find common ground before Aug. 15, when Standard Chartered is due to appear at a hearing before the New York financial services department, the people said.
The discussions are tricky because several regulators have been probing Standard Chartered’s dollar-clearing business with Iran since 2009, but the New York financial services regulator this week issued an order alleging the company had conducted illegal transactions on a massive scale.
The regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, also alleged the bank conducted a decade-long cover-up of those actions.
