BNP Paribas pays $8.9bn, senior staff exit over US sanctions breaches

BNP Paribas (BNPP) has pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to violate US sanctions [1]; the French bank will pay $8.9 billion to US authorities for systematically disguising more than $190 billion of transactions with clients from Iran, Sudan and Cuba. In addition, commencing 1 January 2015, BNP Paribas will be subject to a one-year suspension of its US dollar clearing services for selected business lines and offices. For two years it will also be prohibited from US dollar clearing as a correspondent bank for unaffiliated third-party institutions in New York and London.