Standard Chartered nears deal over compliance failure -source

By Karen Freifeld

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Plc is close to a deal to pay between $200 million and $300 million to resolve allegations by New York's banking regulator that it failed to review high-risk transactions, two years after agreeing to reform its practices, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The announcement of the settlement could come this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak about the talks and declined to be identified.

The penalty would be the second the British bank has paid to the New York Department of Financial Services in two years. In August 2012, Standard Chartered agreed to a $340 million settlement over allegations that it stripped identifying information from transactions linked to Iran, making it impossible for U.S. banks to detect them.

 

A person familiar with the matter previously told Reuters that a compliance monitor installed as part of the 2012 deal detected the latest problem. It is unclear precisely what transactions are at issue in the current probe.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Writing by Joseph Ax. Editing by Andre Grenon)