FINANCIAL TIMES: …Bank officials, including chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, met with prosecutors and regulators in Washington and New York last week, to appeal for leniency as settlement negotiations continue. A deal, if one is reached, is still weeks away, and the fine size could change as part of the talks, people familiar with the matter say.
A fine of that magnitude would be a setback for BNP, which has one of the strongest balance sheets of the major European banks, but is looking to move beyond capital raising into a new growth phase.
Prosecutors are weighing a criminal charge against the bank for what they view as lack of co-operation during the investigation and for a lengthy period during which the French bank allegedly processed transactions linked to sanctioned countries through its US operations… (more)
