French Bank Société Générale Fined €1.1 Billion for Violating U.S. Sanctions

The large French bank Société Générale announced on Tuesday, September 4, that it is set to pay a €1.1 billion fine to resolve a dispute with the U.S. government over allegations of violating its sanctions, particularly against Iran. Société Générale, the second-largest banking institution in France, stated that it would be able to pay this amount using a budget allocated for resolving this dispute. The bank added in a statement: 'Société Générale has entered a more active phase of dialogue with U.S. officials, aiming to reach an agreement in this regard in the coming weeks.' 'Of the total €1.43 billion budget allocated for resolving disputes, approximately €1.1 billion is for the issue of U.S. sanctions.' In recent months, Société Générale has been involved in several investigations and lawsuits. The U.S. Department of Justice announced in June that the bank must pay $1.34 billion in the U.S. and France to resolve a case related to bribing Libyan officials and manipulating interest rates in France. The bank had previously paid about €1 billion in 2017 for allegations related to Libya. Following these issues, the bank's Deputy CEO reportedly resigned due to the management of these complaints. The head of the bank's commercial sector also resigned at that time, and these events raised concerns among shareholders and decreased the bank's profits in the first quarter of this year. However, in the second quarter of this year, the bank's profits increased due to the expansion of its activities abroad.