“You fucking Americans” and other English banking phrases which float off the tongue

by pdxblake

It was always likely that HSBC would be only the tip of the iceberg for banks engaging in questionable business and it has not taken long for a bank–Standard Chartered Bank– to seemingly leap-frog HSBC by a mile.   There were enough transactions with Iranian companies in violation of sanctions (60,000 for a combined total of $250 billion) to give the impression that Standard Chartered was either grossly incompetent or thumbing its nose at US sanctions.

In all, it has the bank tarred as a “rogue bank” by the NY State Department of Finance facing an uncertain future at least in the US.   The sordid details are in a report, and include an internal struggle between the NY and London offices reminiscent of JP Morgan’s whale (based in London, overseen from New York).  For Standard Chartered, the NY office became concerned with the blatant sanctions violation and said it could (*shocking*) cause “very serious or even catastrophic reputational damage” (ht Business Insider).

The US side added “there is equally importantly potential of risk of subjecting management in US and London (e.g. you and I) and elsewhere to personal reputational damages and/or serious criminal liability”.  But, instead of going through the costs and benefits of the business, the London office just sneered:

“You fucking Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians.”

And another massive rogue bank scandal is born.  It’s time, I think to take bets on which bank will be next (my money’s on a large one from continental Europe, but I haven’t decided which one yet).