STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 15 August 2012

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33. Standard Chartered Faces Fed Probes After N.Y. Deal

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-14/standard-chartered-faces-fed-probes-after-n-y-deal.html

Standard Chartered Plc (STAN), having settled a New York money laundering probe for $340 million the day before it was to defend its right to operate in the state, still faces federal inquiries over claims it helped sanctioned nations including Iran illegally funnel money through the U.S.

Regulators including the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, Justice Department and Manhattan District Attorney declined attempts at a global settlement, said two people familiar with the matter. A coordinated effort was already in progress before New York’s unilateral deal, announced yesterday by financial regulator Benjamin Lawsky, one of the people said.

The agreement doesn’t take into account all of the bank’s alleged violations, including those involving nations such as Sudan, said one of the people, who added that September is the earliest a universal deal may be reached. Shares of the bank rose as much as 5.1 percent in London today as the New York settlement removes one immediate risk to the U.K.-based bank.

“From the bank’s perspective, they needed to get this behind them,” Ann Graham, director of the Business Law Institute at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, said of the New York agreement. “Had this action gone forward, the potential was that they could lose their license to operate in New York, and that would have been devastating to their operations.”