Letters of credit (L/C) for trade with Sudan featured substantially in transactions handled by BNP Paribas that contravened US sanctions and led to the largest ever fine imposed on a bank for sanctions busting.

BNP has been fined US$8.9 billion for intentionally evading US sanctions on doing business with Sudan, Cuba and Iran.

Concealed transactions

According to a statement of facts, L/Cs provided by BNP's Geneva office in 2006 represented one quarter of all Sudan's exports and a fifth of the country's imports for that year.

Across all three countries, more than US$190 billion in transactions that contravened sanctions were concealed by the bank in the decade between 2002 and 2012, according to New York's Department of Financial Services.

Clearing ban

In its attempts to avoid detection, the bank employed several techniques, including redacting any reference to sanctioned countries from transfers and using intentionally using elaborate and circuitous methods tochannel money through other banks.

As part of its settlement with the US authorities, the bank is barred from US dollar clearing operations for one year starting in January 2015 in its oil and gas commodity finance business.

Additionally, 13 BNP executives have been ordered to leave the bank.

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