Standard Chartered loses bid to dismiss US sanctions lawsuit; EU to delay Basel bank capital rules by one year
As reported by Reuters, more than 200 investors are suing the bank for misleading statements on sanctions compliance from 2007 to 2019. The lawsuit follows Standard Chartered’s 2019 agreement to pay $1.1bn to US and UK authorities for sanctions breaches against Iran and other countries.
The investors allege “industrial-scale sanctions non-compliance” beyond the bank’s disclosed admissions in previous cases. The London High Court ruled the case should proceed to trial, likely in late 2026, and rejected Standard Chartered’s appeal on Monday.
In a statement, a spokesperson from the bank said the court’s decision “is not a ruling on the merits of the allegations themselves, which Standard Chartered continues to regard as baseless”.
“We will continue to vigorously defend the claim and are confident that the High Court will conclude that the bank fully complied with its reporting and disclosure obligations throughout the relevant period,” the spokesperson added.
—
The EU will postpone the implementation of a core element of Basel III bank capital rules by one year to January 2026, according to EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness.
This decision follows expected delays in the US, which is unlikely to meet its July 2025 deadline for introducing its version of the “Basel Endgame” rules.
The delay pertains specifically to the rules governing market risks in banks’ trading books, which would require investment banks to hold additional capital against their wholesale trading books to limit market risk during securities transactions with clients.
“This one-year delay ensures a global level playing field for those big European banks competing with other global players. It gives us time to see what others are doing,” McGuinness told a conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
“In the EU, we are firmly adhering to our date of January 1 2025 for entry into application of the bulk of the Basel standards,” he added.
—
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has filed a lawsuit against UBS, alleging the Swiss bank submitted “absurd and unsubstantiated” reports to Germany’s Financial Intelligence Unit between 2018 and 2022, sparking an anti-money-laundering investigation into his transactions.
As reported by the Financial Times, the lawsuit, filed in Frankfurt, claims the investigation contributed to EU sanctions against Usmanov following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading to financial losses and reputational damage. The billionaire denies any involvement in money laundering or tax evasion and is suing UBS for damages, his lawyer told the FT. UBS declined to comment.
The lawsuit follows a 2022 Frankfurt court ruling that searches by law enforcement of Usmanov’s properties in Germany as part of the money-laundering investigation were unlawful. Usmanov is among the world’s wealthiest individuals, with an estimated net worth of nearly $19bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for 2024.
—
Spanish bank BBVA is reportedly exploring the launch of a digital consumer bank in Germany. As reported by Bloomberg citing unnamed sources, BBVA plans to use existing technology to minimise expansion costs if the launch goes ahead.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, the project is led by Javier Lipuzcoa, head of BBVA’s digital bank in Italy. The plan is currently in its early stages, with BBVA preparing a feasibility study and putting together a team to lead the new unit, the sources said.
