French Bank Fined $900 Million for Evading Sanctions

French bank Crédit Agricole is negotiating with the U.S. government to pay $900 million in exchange for the U.S. Treasury ending its investigation into the bank's illegal monetary exchanges and relationships with individuals and countries like Iran and Sudan, which are on the sanctions list. Reuters reported on Thursday, September 10, citing a source familiar with the case, that negotiations are ongoing and the payment amount may change during discussions with various American organizations. Another news source mentioned that the payment by Crédit Agricole could reach up to $1 billion. Both Reuters sources emphasized that this bank, which is the third-largest French lending institution, is expected to reach an agreement with U.S. officials regarding sanctions-related issues this month. A spokesperson for Crédit Agricole declined to comment on the matter. Last month, Crédit Agricole announced that it was engaged in 'high-level negotiations' with U.S. officials beyond sanctions issues, expected to conclude this fall. At that time, the amount discussed for settlement was reported to be $392 million. The total value of transactions from Crédit Agricole under the scrutiny of U.S. Treasury officials was reported to be $1.79 billion, but it is unclear how much of this was related to sanctioned transactions. An informed source, who requested anonymity, indicated that the period of potential violations by Crédit Agricole occurred between 2003 and 2008. Since 2009, around 10 international and European banks have been fined nearly $14 billion by the U.S. for failing to comply with sanctions. In March, Commerzbank of Germany, the second-largest lender in the country, agreed to pay a $1.45 billion fine. According to Reuters, banks such as UniCredit of Italy, Société Générale of France, and Deutsche Bank of Germany are still negotiating fines related to similar issues. BNP Paribas, the largest French bank, holds the record for U.S. fines related to non-compliance with banking sanctions against Iran and Sudan, having been fined $8.9 billion last year. This bank was also banned from conducting certain banking transactions in dollars, the U.S. currency, for one year. Many banks have agreed to pay fines due to U.S. sanctions to avoid court proceedings, as a court could potentially rule to revoke the bank's operations in the U.S.