US to slap record $8.9b fine on BNP Paribas
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
NEW YORK, June 30 (AFP) : French bank BNP Paribas has agreed to pay US authorities a $8.9 billion fine to avoid being tried in court for dealing with US-blacklisted countries, sources close to the matter told AFP.
The deal ends months of haggling which saw French President Francois Hollande pressing his US counterpart Barack Obama to intervene and lighten the punishment.
Agreement on the record fine, approved by the bank's board of directors at a special weekend meeting in Paris, is due to be announced Monday after markets close at the New York Stock Exchange around 4:00 pm (2000 GMT).
The US Justice Department and New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky will make separate announcements, another source said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
BNP declined requests for a public comment.
At least $2 billion of the fine will go to Lawsky, who is temporarily suspending parts of BNP's dollar-handling business in the United States -- key to any major bank's US operations -- for all of 2015. Sources said the suspension would take place progressively since BNP has operations underway.
BNP, France's largest bank, has until December 31 to find a bank that agrees to make dollar payments on its behalf.
The deal forces BNP to plead guilty to the bank's deals from 2002 to 2009 with countries that Washington has blacklisted like Cuba, Iran and Sudan.