Shares in Standard Chartered plunge amid laundering claims

Standard Chartered has seen £6bn wiped from its value amid fears it could lose its US banking licence after regulators branded the lender a “rogue institution” over its dealings with the Iranian government.

The 160-year-old bank saw shares plunge 16 per cent after regulators claimed it exposed the US to terrorists and drug kingpins by hiding $250bn (£160bn) of transactions with Tehran.

The allegations will come as a shock given Standard’s reputation as a safe and sound bank, which described its approach as “boring” amid the turmoil engulfing the sector.

The bank, which employs 2,100 staff in the UK, said it “strongly rejects” the portrayal by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Standard said the claims were inaccurate and 99.9 per cent of its dealings with Tehran complied with regulation.

Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: “There is some irony that, a few days after describing its approach as ‘boring’ at its interim results, Standard Chartered should become embroiled in yet another potential banking scandal.”

The investigation’s findings come after fellow UK bank HSBC was accused of allowing drug cartels and rogue states to launder billions of pounds through its US arm.

Standard, which employs nearly 90,000 people worldwide has been threatened with losing its licence to operate in New York state.

In a legal order, New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said: “In short, SCB (Standard Chartered Bank) operated as a rogue institution.”

The regulator claims that between January 2001 and 2010, Standard Chartered conspired with Iranian clients to route payments through New York after first stripping information from wire transfer messages used to identify sanctioned countries.

The bank moved 60,000 transactions through its New York branch on behalf of Iranian financial institutions that were subject to US economic sanctions, and then covered up the dealings, the financial watchdog claimed.

The institutions included the Central Bank of Iran, as well as two others owned by the Iranian state. The US suspects Iran used its banks to finance terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The findings include a memo sent in October 2006 from the bank’s US chief executive to the group executive director in London raising concerns about the activities with Iran.

The group executive director allegedly replied: “You f****** Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians.”

The bank has no UK branches but is headquartered in London.

Bassetlaw Labour MP John Mann, a member of the Treasury select committee, has accused US regulators of being anti-British in an attempt to attract financial market business from London to New York. Mr Mann claimed drug money from Colombia and Mexico was being routinely laundered through US banks.

The shares closed at 1228.5p, a fall of 241.5p.