(Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) Plc Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters says the emerging markets lender is determined to play a “leading role” in fighting financial crime as it battles ongoing conduct and compliance issues.
"Since 2012 we have transformed our approach to financial-crime controls and risk management," Winters said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. "We’ve seen an almost ten-fold increase in our annual financial crime compliance spending and a more than seven-fold increase in headcount dedicated to this."
Meanwhile, Chief Finance Officer Andy Halford said the bank continues to cooperate with U.S. authorities on resolving the Iran sanctions probe, and that it’s too early to provision for any likely fine. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month the London-based lender is bracing for a potential penalty of around $1.5 billion for allowing customers to violate Iran sanctions.
Winters said that U.S. authorities who are probing Standard Chartered shared his view that the bank had made "substantial progress."
“We recognize that there is more work to do,” he said.
