By Greg
Farrell
BNP (BNP) Paribas SA, seeking to settle claims it
violated U.S. sanctions, is close to an agreement with New York state’s
top banking regulator that would curtail some of its dollar-clearing operations
for as long as a year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The talks with state and
federal authorities, which continue to include a penalty that may reach a
record $9 billion, could be completed as soon as next week, said the person,
who asked not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.
The ban on dollar-clearing
could affect specific business, such as oil and gas transactions, and certain
offices, such as Geneva, where the alleged illegal transactions took place, the
person said. Cesaltine Gregorio, a BNP Paribas spokeswoman in New York,
declined to comment.
At the center of the BNP
investigation are alleged sanctions violations involving Sudan, Iran and Cuba
dating from 2002 to 2009, though some transactions continued until 2011, a
person familiar with the matter has said.
BNP rose 0.3 percent to 49.88
euros by 9:19 a.m. in Paris trading, leaving the decline this year at 12 percent.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan
District Attorney’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern
District of New York, along with the Superintendent of New York’s Department of
Financial Services, Benjamin Lawsky, have
all been investigating BNP.
News of the tentative agreement
between Lawsky’s office and BNP was reported earlier by Reuters.
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