Standard Charter to pay $340 million fine

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NEW YORK, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- New York state banking regulators said British bank Standard Chartered agreed to pay $340 million to settle charges of hiding its business with Iranians.

The case involved 60,000 secret financial transactions, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The bank had previously admitted to improper transactions that totaled $14 million. A statement from the New York Department of Financial Services, however, said the bank in the settlement had agreed to the new estimate of the value of the hidden transactions, which was $250 billion.

In addition to the fine, Standard Chartered also agreed to have regulators place a monitor in the bank for two years who would "report directly to the Department of Financial Services."

The monitor will "evaluate the money-laundering risk controls in the New York branch and implementation of corrective measures," the Department of Financial Services said in a statement.

The bank will also hire personnel for the New York branch "to oversee and audit any offshore money-laundering due diligence and monitoring undertaken by the bank," the regulator said.