BNP Paribas agreed to pay a record $8.9bn penalty and pleaded guilty in a landmark settlement with US authorities for conspiring to violate sanctions that prohibit transactions with Sudan and other regimes.
It is the first time a major bank has pleaded guilty in a sanctions-busting case and represents a significant stiffening of penalties against global financial institutions, which have paid more than $100bn in fines in recent years.
US authorities – including the Department of Justice, Treasury and Federal Reserve – said France’s largest bank concealed billions of dollars in transactions on behalf of Sudan, Iran and Cuba from 2002 until 2012, well after the bank was warned it was under investigation and after multiple other banks were penalised for similar transactions.