Page 30 - IRANRptJul19

Standard Chartered hit with $1.1bn in US and UK fines for breaching Iran sanctions
avoid any direct contravention of US sanctions aimed at any use of the US dollar.
IDBI is the second Indian bank permitted to deal with Iranian trade. UCO became the first earlier last year.
London-based Standard Chartered has agreed to pay $1.1bn to US and British authorities for conducting financial transactions that violated sanctions against Iran and other countries, government officials announced on April 9.
Some of the transactions occurred not long after Standard Chartered settled similar charges in 2012. The settlement extends by two years a deferred prosecution agreement that the bank originally entered into in 2012.
Standard Chartered “undermined the integrity of our financial system and harmed our national security by deliberately providing Iranians with coveted access to the U.S. economy,” Washington, D.C., US Attorney Jessie Liu said. “The circumstances that led to today’s resolutions are completely unacceptable”, Standard Chartered Group Chief Executive Bill Winters said in a statement. He added that they were “not representative” of the bank today. The agreements conclude a five-year-old investigation that started into Standard Chartered’s banking for Iran-controlled entities in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates
The latest penalty is a tally of fines and forfeitures imposed by US Department of Justice, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FCA imposed a GBP102mn fine ($134mn) on the bank for its control failures. It noted Standard Chartered’s lax controls in opening an account with 3 million UAE dirham in cash in a suitcase (just over GBP500,000) and allowing a customer to export a product with potential military applications to war zones.
New York’s DFS said the misconduct involved $600mn in illegal dollar transactions between 2008 and 2014 that moved through the state from the bank’s London and Dubai offices.
8.2 Central Bank policy
Iran’s central bank ready to deploy digital rationing system
A digital rationing system for basic goods including meat and poultry has been prepared by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in response to the government's policy of supplying essential goods through the local banking system with the use of bank cards, Mehr News Agency reported on April 11.
The CBI had previously announced it was moving forward with the plan to boost people’s access to essential meat products following the collapse in the value of the Iranian rial (IRR), by as much as 70% against the USD in comparison to where it stood at the start of last year, following the Trump administration’s introduction of the toughest ever sanctions regime aimed by the US against Tehran.
In conjunction with the Ministry of Mining, Trade and Agriculture, the CBI digital payment system will allow low-income families to access meat through a government channel.
The system is to be operated by Toshan Electronics Payment System, which currently acts as a payment facilitator and point-of-sale electronic payments operator.
30 IRAN Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com