Reuters
By Carrick Mollenkamp and Brett Wolf and Karen Freifeld
Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:34pm IST
Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky listens to New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo speak during a cabinet meeting in Albany, New York in this October 12, 2011 file More...
Credit: REUTERS/Hans Pennink/Files
(Please note strong language in paragraph 10)
(Reuters) - Benjamin Lawsky played hardball with Standard Chartered Plc and a gauntlet of federal and New York regulators and prosecutors right up until the last hours of the $340 million settlement on Tuesday with the British bank over improper and concealed transactions tied to Iran.
Based on a dozen interviews, Reuters has learned that Lawsky, New York's top banking regulator, ignored on Monday the entreaties of federal regulators to drop his own action in favor of a single, global settlement. He also insisted on Monday that the bank agree that the settlement specify that it had engaged in $250 billion of transactions, a figure the bank had vigorously disputed.
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