French banks Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are under US investigation for alleged breaching of money laundering rules and violating of American sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.
The US Treasury, the Justice Department, the Manhattan district attorney and the New York Department of Financial Services are investigating the banks, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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"The US is investigating foreign banks for potential issues related to money laundering and violations of US embargoes and sanctions on countries like Cuba, Iran and Sudan," an unidentified source told the publication.
BNP Paribas is in talks with US authorities to settle the probe, The Wall Street Journal report added.
Spokespeople from the district attorney’s office and the Treasury declined to comment.
BNP in February said it had put aside $1.1 billion to cover probable penalties for transactions in countries under US sanctions.
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By GlobalDataSociete Generale had a total provision of 700m as of December 2013 for potential litigation. Credit Agricole had set aside 1.1bn for potential litigation on 31 December, 2012 and did not reveal how much it had set aside for probable litigation in 2013.
Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, however, may not face as large a fine as BNP Paribas could, The Wall Street Journal quouted AlphaValue analyst Christophe Nijdam as saying.
