Where does the United Snakes get off anyway? How the Hell can Uncle Satan fine a British company under US laws? What sense does that make? Is the US the dictator of the world? (Obviously we think we are). Does US law apply overseas too? Where? US law applies in every state on Earth? How does that figure? Then why don’t the laws of every foreign land apply in the US too? Shouldn’t Iranian law apply here in the US? Why not?
Can someone please explain to me where the US gets off fining a British bank $200 million for violating US laws? I don’t get it.
A lot of idiots on this blog have asked how the Cuban embargo even hurts Cuba at all. Well, for one thing, apparently foreign banks are not allowed to engage in any trade whatsoever with Cuba. If they engage in transactions with Cuba, this is what happens to them – $200 million fine. So obviously that tends to discourage a lot of foreign banks from trading with Cuba! Does this happen to every foreign bank that trades with Cuba? No, but apparently it happens to some of them.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to pay $100m (£61m) after US investigations into illegal transactions with Iran, Sudan, Burma and Cuba. The bank has entered into agreements with the US Federal Reserve, the US Treasury Department and the New York State Department of Financial Services. Earlier on Wednesday it emerged that Lloyds Banking Group has been fined £28m over a new mis-selling scandal. In a statement, RBS said it “acknowledges and deeply regrets” the failings. The bank also said it has committed almost $490m (£300m) since 2010 to improve its sanctions controls.
Several UK banks have entered into settlements in recent years over continuing financial transactions with Iran despite US laws against them, and for removing information from payments to get them processed. Former City Minister Lord Myners told Sky’s Jeff Randall Live that the breaches made by RBS and other UK banks were an embarrassment. “It’ s embarrassing, to put it at its mildest, that the UK seems to be at the heart of so many of these failures,” he said. “It’ s not good that these problems arise in the UK, and reading this RBS statement it sounds very willful and intentional. What was going on in these banks? How was this allowed to happen?”
Lord Myners said there are likely to be more fines to come for RBS. “This isn’t closure for RBS with the US regulators. This isn’t the end of the story. There’s a lot more that’s going to come over the next year or so.” RBS said criminal authorities at the US Justice Department and the District Attorney of New York have closed their related investigations and will not bring charges. From 2005 to 2009, the bank removed references to sanctioned locations from payment messages to US financial institutions, the Treasury Department said. RBS instructed employees to list the name of the Iranian financial institution rather than its identifying
codes on wire transfers, the department said.This prevented the bank’s payment system from automatically including references to Iran in the cover messages sent to US clearing banks. Lloyds TSB Bank Plc became the first bank to settle in the US, forfeiting $350m (£213m) in 2009. Others to pay penalties include Credit Suisse, Barclays, Standard Chartered, and ABN Amro, now part of RBS.
