Standard Chartered PLC Reaches $340 Million Settlement Over Iran- Reuters

Reuters reported that Standard Chartered Plc agreed to pay $340 million to New York's bank regulator over transactions linked to Iran, in a speedily arranged deal that helped push up the emerging market-focused lender's shares. The deal with New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky on Tuesday caps a week of transatlantic tension and a furore over why a state agency had upstaged other authorities. The British bank still faces a separate probe of its Iran-linked transactions by other U.S. agencies. The resolution also averted a hearing on Wednesday at which the bank had been called to demonstrate why its license to do business in New York should not be revoked. The settlement agreed by the bank is equal to less than 9% of its first-half pre-tax profit.