Crossroads
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http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/prosecutors-wrestling-with-wall-streets-repeat-offenders/?_php=true&_type=blogs&emc=edit_th_20141030&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=64346135&_r=0
So, to input a politically charged word...I'm fairly certain these types of situations provide extensive reasons for heavier regulation on the banks in general. Far left individuals and socialists might even call this an example of why we ought to "socialize" the banks, and remove the pure profit incentive. This is in a similar vein with the HSBC issue of laundering money for drug cartels and violating U.S. sanctions.
Is there any hard defense FOR these banks? That would certainly make for an interesting debate.
Prosecutors in Washington and Manhattan have reopened an investigation into Standard Chartered, the big British bank that reached a settlement in 2012 over accusations that it transferred billions of dollars for Iran and other nations blacklisted by the United States, according to the lawyers briefed on the cases. The prosecutors are questioning whether Standard Chartered, which has a large operation in New York, failed to disclose the extent of its wrongdoing to the government, imperiling the bank’s earlier settlement.
As reported earlier by The New York Times, prosecutors are also threatening to tear up deals with banks like Barclays and UBS that were accused of manipulating interest rates, pointing to evidence that the same banks also manipulated foreign currencies, a violation of the interest rate settlements. The prosecutors and banks have agreed to extend probationary periods that would have otherwise expired this year.
Typically, when banks have repeatedly run afoul of the law, they have returned to business as usual with little or no additional penalty — a stark contrast to how prosecutors mete out justice for the average criminal.
Even now that prosecutors are examining repeat offenses on Wall Street, they are likely to seek punishments more symbolic than sweeping. Top executives are not expected to land in prison, nor are any problem banks in jeopardy of shutting down.
More recently, the government has grown skeptical of the argument that some banks are simply too big to charge, an argument that Sullivan & Cromwell often employs for its clients. That argument was tested in a recent case against BNP Paribas, the giant French bank accused of processing billions of dollars for Sudan and Iran.
Regulators and prosecutors blame a culture that prioritizes profit over compliance. And as banks have grown larger, and more international, illegality can stop in one unit of a bank even as it flourishes in another.
The bank, which declined to comment for this article, previously said it was “cooperating with all relevant ongoing reviews, requests for information and investigations.”
So, to input a politically charged word...I'm fairly certain these types of situations provide extensive reasons for heavier regulation on the banks in general. Far left individuals and socialists might even call this an example of why we ought to "socialize" the banks, and remove the pure profit incentive. This is in a similar vein with the HSBC issue of laundering money for drug cartels and violating U.S. sanctions.
Is there any hard defense FOR these banks? That would certainly make for an interesting debate.