UniCredit in $1.3 billion US settlement on sanctions violations

UniCredit agreed to pay $1.3 billion to settle US allegations it processed payments that violated sanctions on Iran and other countries, the US Treasury Department announced Monday.
Some of the charges concerned UniCredit's operation of US accounts for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines between 2007 and 2011 that obscured the involvement of the Iranian group, the Treasury Department said. The Italian bank - through units in its home market, Germany and Austria - processed more than 2,000 payments worth more than $500 million in the United States that were apparent violations of US sanctions, the Treasury said.