Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-Commerzbank sees hit from U.S. sanctions probe

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-Commerzbank sees hit from U.S. sanctions probe Aug 22nd 2012, 11:17 Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:17am EDT * Bank sees "considerably negative" effect from probe * Too early to quantify size of any financial hit * Commerzbank shares down 1.3 pct, lags bank index FRANKFURT, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest lender, warned it faces a financial hit to settle U.S. probes into violations of sanctions on Iran and other countries, which could exceed provisions. The bank said the U.S. was investigating whether the bank's dealings with Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea and Cuba had violated U.S. embargoes, and pointed out that other banks had paid large settlements to end the probes. Commerzbank would probably do the same, it said in a June regulatory filing with Germany's securities watchdog Bafin. "The financial impact of the procedure and its termination cannot be predicted and could exceed eventual provisions, which could have considerably negative consequences," Commerzbank said in the filing. A Commerzbank spokesman repeated on Wednesday that it has had no new business with Iran since 2007 and that it was too early to say what the financial consequences of the U.S. probes would be. Commerzbank's shares were down 1.3 percent at 1.27 euros by 1114 GMT, lagging a 0.7 percent decline in the STOXX Europe 600 banking index. News of Commerzbank's filing was reported by Die Zeit newspaper earlier on Wednesday, triggering an initial drop in the stock of as much as 2.5 percent. U.S. authorities have been actively pursuing a number of banks over sanctions violations. British bank Standard Chartered last week reached a $340 million settlement after the New York Department of Financial Services accused it of concealing $250 billion in Iranian transactions. Separately, U.S. authorities are investigating Royal Bank of Scotland for possible violations of sanctions with Iran. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions