Standard Chartered’s shares staged one of their biggest rallies of the year after investors welcomed the bank’s settlement with New York state regulators over alleged breaches of US sanctions law.
A week after mounting a robust defence against allegations that it hid $250bn of illicit Iranian transactions, StanChart responded to investor pressure to reach a swift agreement with New York state’s Department of Financial Services and avoid the possible revocation of its New York licence. “The overwhelming message from investors was get this behind you,” said someone close to the bank.
StanChart agreed late on Tuesday to pay a $340m fine to the DFS. Its shares rose more than 4 per cent yesterday, but are still sharply lower than before the DFS published its explosive claims on August 6.