France's foreign minister has hit out against a possible $10bn (£5.9bn) plus fine for the country's biggest bank, BNP Paribas, for alleged violation of US sanctions.
Laurent Fabius told France 2 television: "If there is an error or violation then it's normal that there is a fine, but the fine has to be proportionate and reasonable. These figures are not reasonable."
US authorities are investigating whether BNP Paribas flouted American sanctions against Sudan, Iran and Syria between 2002 and 2009. Sources have said a settlement could include a fine of more than $10bn, although a final judgment has not been made.
The remarks come just two days before France's president, François Hollande, sits down to dinner with Barack Obama, who is visiting France to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings.
The French government is pulling out all the stops to defend BNP Paribas, a bank deemed 'too big to fail' and that received a €5.1bn (£4.1bn) bailout at the height of the financial crisis.
Hollande has raised concerns about a BNP Paribas plea deal with the White House, while French officials have also contacted the US state and treasury departments, according to sources quoted in the New York Times. According to the paper, the French are concerned that a guilty plea would force the bank to suspend part of its business operations in New York. As well as a fine, BNP Paribas faces a temporary suspension of its authority to clear US dollar transactions. A $10bn fine would be more than five times the amount of the largest penalty so far levied by US authorities against banks: HSBC paid $1.97bn in 2012 for offences including alleged money laundering for Mexican drug cartels, and admitted it had helped clients evade US sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Libya. Standard Chartered, the next biggest offender, paid $667m, mainly for breaking sanctions against Iran.
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