StanChart works on joint deal with agencies

Standard Chartered is pursuing a collective settlement with other US authorities after speedily agreeing to pay $340 million to New York's financial regulator, who broke ranks with early revelations that the bank hid banned Iranian transactions.

Chief executive Peter Sands, who cut short his holiday in Canada last week to deal with the affair, remains in the United States as the bank continues talks with other agencies to agree a comprehensive deal that removes lingering uncertainty.

"Negotiations are going on between the other agencies, and we are talking to them. It is safe to assume there will now be a collective agreement," a spokesman said, declining to put a timeframe on the process.

Shares in Standard Chartered were up 4.2 per cent at 1,427 pence at 09:45 GMT, still 9 per cent below their value prior to accusations being made against the bank on August 6 by New York's Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky.

Lawsky said Standard Chartered had hidden Iran-linked transactions with a total value of $250 billion and called it a "rogue institution" for breaking US sanctions. That prompted a robust defence from Sands against what he called Lawsky's "disproportionate" allegations, but the bank's shares lost over 30 per cent of their value in 24 hours, ramping up the pressure on Standard Chartered to strike a deal.

Sands flew to New York on Sunday to take personal control of the negotiations ahead of a planned hearing with New York on Wednesday which has now been adjourned pending formal completion of the settlement.

Monday's settlement offered some relief to shareholders, but investors pointed out that Standard Chartered still had some way to go before closing the most regrettable chapter in its history. "Don't forget about the other half of the fine — they haven't settled with the DoJ/OFAC yet," another of the bank's biggest 30 investors told Reuters, estimating a second financial hit of around the same size.

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