The sum is separate from a $340 million civil penalty leveled against Standard Chartered in August by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
In a statement yesterday announcing his office's deferred prosecution agreement with HSBC, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said that "New York is a center of international finance, and those who use our banks as a vehicle for international crime will not be tolerated. My office has entered into Deferred Prosecution Agreements with two different banks in just the past two days, and with six banks over the past four years. Sanctions enforcement is of vital importance to our national security and the integrity of our financial system."
Analysts said the HSBC and Standard Chartered will be able to absorb the cost of the settlements.
According to Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood, the penalties are equivalent to around 9 percent of each company's 2012 pretax profits.
"The certainty is clearly welcome and helps to draw a line under the situation," Greenwood said. "In terms of knock-on effects, we think it is likely to lead to higher ongoing compliance costs and perhaps some minor loss of business in the United States, but nothing that will be particularly material to either company."
This article originally appeared in the New York Law Journal.
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