BNP Paribas SA is being probed by New York investigators, as well as federal authorities, over transactions from Sudan, Iran and Cuba that possibly violated U.S. law, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Paris-based lender said Thursday it set aside $1.1 billion for possible violation of laws, in particular those of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, related to transactions dating from 2002 to 2009.
The investigations are focused on both money laundering and U.S. sanctions violations that went through BNP units in the U.S., the person said. A deal with authorities isn’t imminent and a penalty figure hasn’t been agreed upon, the person familiar with the matter said.
A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment. In a statement earlier, the bank said there had been “no discussions with U.S. authorities about the amount of any fines or penalties.”
BNP Paribas is being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Benjamin Lawsky, the superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, and Cy Vance, the New York District Attorney. The involvement of Messrs. Bharara, Lawsky and Vance weren’t previously known.
Nine banks, eight of them European, previously have settled allegations that they violated U.S. sanctions. The most recent was Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, which paid $33 million to settle a U.S. Treasury investigation in December.
