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UniCredit has reached an agreement worth $ 1.3 billion on alleged violations of several US sanctions programs, US authorities said.
The settlement with the parent entity of the Italian bank and its two subsidiaries included a guilty plea of a German criminal charges subsidiary at the Federal and New York State.
The lengthy investigation by the US authorities has weighed on the bank since 2012. The criminal and regulatory sanctions announced on Monday related to allegations of violation of US sanctions against Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Cuba and Burma.
UniCredit Bank AG, the German subsidiary operating under the name of HypoVereinsbank, has "deliberately and deliberately" channeled illegal payments contrary to the sanctions imposed on Iran from 2002 to 2011, according to the Justice Ministry.
The entity has made every effort to help the Iranian national shipping company, the shipping lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to avoid sanctions, said Brian Benczkowski, head of the Criminal Division of the Ministry of Justice.
"The integrity of our financial system requires financial institutions to comply with our laws. [HypoVereinsbank] deliberately failed to do so, "he said in a statement.
The $ 1.3 billion payment will resolve investigations by the Department of Justice, the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the New York Department of Financial Services.
UniCredit stated that the settlement amount was fully covered by its provisions and that it would credit an after-tax addition of 300 million euros to its income statement in the first quarter of 2019 by releasing the remaining provisions.
The bank said in a statement that it had cooperated with US authorities, that it remained committed to doing so and that it had made "major" improvements to its compliance programs.
This announcement is the latest in a series of sanctions regulations with US authorities that have allowed financial institutions to make payments of $ 14 billion over the past decade. Last week, Standard Chartered agreed to pay $ 1 billion to the United States and the United Kingdom to settle allegations of violation of sanctions against Iran.
In addition to the guilty plea of HypoVereinsbank, UniCredit Bank Austria, a subsidiary located in Vienna, has entered into non-prosecution agreements with the Department of Justice and the Manhattan DA office.
UniCredit SpA, the Italian parent company, has agreed to pay penalties to the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the DFS. He agreed with the Department of Justice and the Manhattan DA office to ensure that its subsidiaries meet their obligations.
The conduct of HypoVereinsbank included the use of "hedge payments" and the deletion of information in transactions in order to conceal payments contrary to sanctions imposed on Iran, according to the Department of Justice.
One of the alleged violations of UniCredit SpA, the Italian parent, concerned a bank account of the Iranian bank Bank Sepah, opened "at the request of the Italian government and under its control," said DFS.
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