Standard Chartered Bank at risk of losing banking licence

Standard Chartered Group chief executive Peter Sands

The parent company of Standard Chartered Bank Gambia has been asked to tell why its banking licence should not be revoked after it was alleged to have involved in a "scheme" with the Iranian government and hid from law-enforcement officials 60,000 secret transactions in order to generate hundreds of millions of 
dollars in fees.

In a rare move, New York's top bank regulator threatened to strip the banking licence of Standard Chartered Plc, saying it was a "rogue institution" that hid US$250 billion in transactions tied to Iran, in violation of US law that sanctioned Iranian Government. 

The loss of a New York banking licence would be a devastating blow to Standard Chartered, effectively cutting off direct access to the US bank market.