Crédit Agricole will be facing a hefty fine for a series of transactions that violated New York banking law between 2003 and 2008.
Anthony Albanese, the acting superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, announced today that the international bank will pay $787.3 million for those violations on behalf of countries subject to U.S. sanctions.
Albanese said in a press release, "Crédit Agricole engaged in a series of schemes to evade U.S. sanctions and deceive its regulators. Our agency will continue to aggressively investigate and uncover misconduct at banks meant to circumvent U.S. sanctions laws – both past and present."
The $787.3 million will be divided into several parts. This includes $385 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services, $90.3 million to the Federal Reserve, $156 million to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and $156 million to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
On top of the payment, the bank will have to install an independent monitor. The transactions in question were used to process more than $32 billion in U.S. dollar payments through its New York branch from branches across the globe. This, in turn, provided dollar clearing services on behalf of Sudan, Iran, Myanmar, and Cuba.
Crédit Agricole will also dismiss an additional managing director involved in the violations, the New York official said.