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Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi fine

November 19, 2014

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UJF (BTMU) is set to pay an additional penalty for its involvement in removing information from wire transfer records to conceal transactions with US-sanctioned nations - including Iran.

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Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Mayama

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UJF said Wednesday it would pay an additional $315 million (252 million euros) to US regulators for pressuring consultants into removing key information about transactions the lender had made with sanctioned countries.

"BTMU employees pressured PricewaterhouseCoopers into watering down a supposedly objective report on the bank's dealings with Iran and other sanctioned countries, thereby misleading regulators," the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) said in a statement.

The Japanese lender was handed an initial penalty of $250 million in June 2013 for carrying out illegal transactions, bringing its total fine to $565 million.

Clearing up the mess

Starting in 2007, the BTMU conducted an investigation into its US dollar clearing activities with countries subject to US sanctions, including Iran, Myanmar and Sudan, and it hired PwC to compile a past transactions review.

DFS officials said the Japanese bank exerted considerable pressure on the consultants to alter their draft report on the matter.

BTMU's compliance manager Tetsuro Anan resigned after BTMU was pressured to fire him by the regulator, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). In addition, two former compliance officers now working at bank affiliates will be banned from conducting business involving any New York lenders regulated by the DFS.

hg/nz (dpa, AP)