StanChart group finance director Meddings cursed US regulators

Standard Chartered plc’s group finance director Richard Meddings was the executive who allegedly cursed US regulators in a conversation cited by a New York watchdog pursuing a money laundering case against the British bank, a source familiar with the situation said.

The New York State Department of Financial Services has threatened to strip Standard Chartered of its state banking licence, dubbing it a “rogue institution” that hid $250 billion of illegal transactions tied to Iran.

The bank strongly denies the figure, saying only a tiny proportion of the Iran-related transactions totalling less than $14 million were questionable under US sanctions rules.

The source named 54-year-old Meddings, a possible future CEO of Standard Chartered, as the executive mentioned in what has been the most eye-catching piece of evidence quoted so far because of the colourful language allegedly used.

“You f—-ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world that we’re not going to deal with Iranians ?” the US regulator quoted an unidentified Standard Chartered executive director in London as saying in a conversation in 2006.

Meddings, one of five executive directors at the time, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A spokesman for Standard Chartered in London said: “This is not a quote we recognise as coming from Richard or any other of our directors.”

The New York State Department of Financial Services said that in October 2006, Standard Chartered’s top official for business in the Americas warned in a “panicked message” that the bank’s Iranian dealings could cause “catastrophic reputational damage” and “serious criminal liability”.